Darkest Days for a Dark Heart
by Oracle273
Summary: AU Shortly after Snow White's sixteenth birthday a great evil comes to the Enchanted Forest. With Leopold being one of the first victims, the responsibility of saving the kingdom falls upon Regina, who is still battling her mixed feelings about the young princess. Regina must team up with unlikely enemies to bring back the happy endings.
1. The Birthday

_**She opened her eyes. Today was the day. Regina's sixteenth birthday was today and she was hoping she would be allowed to be herself for one day instead of always having to be following every rule her mother makes. **_

"_**Regina!" Cora yelled.**_

"_**Coming mother!"**_

_**She got up out of bed and put on the dress that her mother had picked out for her. It was a sky blue ball gown with a silver floral print on the torso. She slipped it on and ran downstairs.**_

"_**Father." Regina patted the man on the back so he would see her. "How do you like my dress?"**_

"_**It looks lovely, as does everything on you." the man smiled back. "I can't believe it's been sixteen years. I am so proud of you." He gave his daughter a tight hug.**_

"_**Thank you daddy."**_

"_**Ah! There you are, Regina. Happy Birthday." Her mother gave her a quick hug.**_

"_**Thank you, mother. When will the guests be arriving?"**_

"_**In around an hour. We may be able to find a young prince for you to wed someday."**_

_**Regina smiled. It was her mother's idea to invite people across the kingdom. Regina had simply wanted a small party where her mother wouldn't try to sell her off for power.**_

_**Regina walked out to the garden to get away while the maids tried to work out the finishing touches. She was tending to the roses when she heard the familiar voice behind her.**_

"_**A little too much for you, huh?"**_

_**She spun around and looked into his deep blue eyes.**_

"_**That's the way things usually are when my mother plans them."**_

_**Daniel chuckled. "Well, I hope you have some fun." He turned to leave.**_

"_**Oh, Regina, if you could meet me out by our tree tonight then I could give you your present."**_

_**Regina smiled and sighed to herself after he left. She knew she had a crush on him. She hoped that maybe tonight she could find out if he had mutual feelings for her. She went back into the manor once she heard her mother calling for her. The day was just beginning.**_

Regina sat up in bed. Great. She was dreaming about Daniel again. Ever since she married Leopold she had tried to keep him off her mind. Especially after the doctor had failed to bring him back to life.

"Your majesty, it's time to get ready for the ball." Johanna called from behind the door.

"I'll be ready in a few minutes."

She got up and went over to her closet and picked out her best outfit. A silver gown with a diamond necklace and her silver crown. She completely forgot it was the little brat's sixteenth birthday. It probably explains the dream she had.

She headed out of her room and to the dinning hall to have breakfast with her new family. She tried her best to not make eye contact with Leopold considering last night had been another one of **those** nights. She knew if her mother was here she would be all over Regina about always looking someone in the eye when they are talking to you. If her mother was still here Regina would probably be dead from all the times she broke to basic rules of being royal.

"Regina?"

She spun her head around to see Leopold staring at her intently. She looked down.

"Yes?"

"Snow was just asking if you wanted to go riding with her to the lake before the party."

This really caught Regina's attention. The last time she had seen Snow riding was when Regina had saved her life. She looked over to the young princess. Snow sat looking at her with a polite smile on her face and hope in her eyes.

"Please Regina. I've been working hard on my riding skills and I wanted to show you what I could do. I know I'll never be as good as you are but maybe you could teach me a few things you learned."

It was nice to think the princess still looked up to her. "Sure, we could have a picnic too."

Snow jumped out of her seat and ran to hug Regina. Reluctantly, Regina hugged her back and smiled.

"We leave at noon."

_**Regina spent her time talking to all the guests with her mother accompanying her to make sure she didn't mess anything up. The day went by slowly as Regina could only think about what Daniel had in store for her.**_

_**As soon as the party was over Regina found the perfect moment to slip out and ran for her tree. When she got there she saw Daniel leaning against the trunk fast asleep. As she was thinking about how cute he looked, an apple fell from the tree and bounced off his head. **_

"_**Wha-" As he saw her he stopped and smiled.**_

_**Regina stopped laughing and looked him in the eyes.**_

"_**Happy Birthday. How was the party?"**_

"_**Thanks. The party was pretty boring."**_

"_**Maybe I can cheer up your day. Follow me."**_

_**He got up and started walking off towards the dirt road. They eventually ended up at an old farm. Regina recognized it as Daniel's family farm. He lead her to the stables and closed the door behind them. **_

"_**Take your pick." He said while waving his hand dramatically. **_

"_**Excuse me?"**_

"_**I know how much you like horses and I know that your horse is getting old and hasn't been doing well lately. My gift to you is a new, healthy, already-trained horse that you get to pick."**_

_**Regina look around at all the horses. She didn't know how she was going to choose only one until her eyes landed on a horse in the far corner.**_

"_**I want him." She told her young friend.**_

_**Daniel pulled out a small brown horse with a patch of white running from its nose to the tip of its forehead. Regina had a strange feeling about this horse that she couldn't shake.**_

"_**Regina, I'd like you to meet Rocinante. He's the youngest here but he's the best behaved. You made a great choice."**_

_**He handed her the reins as Rocinante walked up to her and nuzzled her arm. Regina couldn't help but smile at the young stallion.**_

_**Regina glanced over at Daniel and quickly hugged him. As she pulled away he grabbed her arms and pulled her closer as he placed his lips upon hers. Her head was spinning as he pulled back and walked over to grab a saddle.**_

"_**How 'bout we ride back?"**_

_**She smiled and followed him out of the stables with Rocinante behind her.**_

Regina went to the stables and saddled up Rocinante. She was going to meet the princess that was responsible for her fiancee's death. She whispered into Rocinante's ear.

"How did we ever get our selves into this mess?"


	2. The Party

Chapter 2: The Party

Snow White came out to the stables and put a saddle on her horse glancing over to Regina, she smiled. Regina didn't know what to think of the princess. She tried to be gentle with the girl and pushed any bad thoughts to the back of her head. _This was the day her mother died after all, _Regina thought.

They started off down the road with Snow taking every opportunity to show off her skills. After a few jumps she looked over at Regina expectantly.

"Come on Regina! My father isn't here. Have some fun for once." The young princess kicked her horse into a sprint and sped past Rocinante. Regina smirked. That kid had no idea what she was getting herself into.

"Come on Rocinante. Let's show the kid how its done."

Rocinante shot forward, jumped over a log and pulled up next to Snow's horse. Snow pulled on the horse's reins and gained a lead on Rocinante. Regina pulled the reins and lead Rocinante down another path that lead up in front of Snow. Both horses jumped over a fallen tree and bolted straight towards the lake a few yards away.

After winning the race, Regina laid out the blanket and pulled out the food. Snow sat down across from her after tying up the horses to a tree.

"Thanks for coming out here with me. It helps get my mind off of the past."

Regina looked her in the eye and smiled. "I'm happy to help you."

They ate in silence for a few minutes until the princess spoke up.

"I'm truly sorry by the way... for telling your secret. I honestly thought your mother just wanted to help you. I didn't think Daniel would leave you because of it."

Regina swallowed hard and looked down. She forgot that Snow was never told the truth.

"Snow... Daniel.. didn't leave me."

Snow looked up to Regina.

"Then what happened to him?"

"My mother killed him so I would marry your father." Regina regretted dumping this on Snow considering today was her birthday as well as the day her mother died. Even though Regina hated the kid she felt sorry for her as soon as she saw tears well up in her eyes.

"Regina... your mother just seemed so nice. I didn't think she was capable of being so evil."

"Well, not all people can be saints like Queen Eva was."

Snow reached for Regina's hand. "Thank you, for telling me this. I know I can't bring him back but if there is anything I can do to ease the pain, please, let me know. I know how it feels to lose someone close to your heart."

Not much was said as the finished eating and rode back to the castle. Thoughts were racing through Regina's head at a hundred miles a minute as she tried to sort through her feelings for the princess. Regina hated her sickeningly sweet attitude but took comfort in the fact that the girl wanted to help her. As always, her thoughts trailed back to him...

"_**So, Lady Regina, are you ready to start off your training with Rocinante?"**_

_**The girl smiled at him, "I'm always ready."**_

"_**Good. He's all ready. Let's see how quickly you two bond."**_

_**Regina leaped onto Rocinante's saddle with ease and kicked at his sides to spur him on.**_

_**After an hour of riding around the field with her new horse, Regina brought him back to the stall and started cleaning him up. She kept glancing over her shoulder to look at the stable boy. After looking back again her caught her eye.**_

"_**What?"**_

"_**Sorry, I was just... looking around."**_

"_**Sure you were."**_

_**He walked over to Regina and put his hand on hers and guided the brush she held. Her breath hitched as she felt his other hand squeeze her shoulder. She quickly spun around and planted a firm kiss on his lips. She felt both of his hands go around her waist as the kiss was deepened. They broke the kiss when Rocinante startled them with a whinny. Regina's face reddened when Daniel pulled away and resumed his work. She knew that that wouldn't be their last kiss though.**_

When Snow and Regina returned, they met with the guests that arrived and never spoke of their conversation at the lake. The night went by slowly as the same things that usually happened at a ball happened. Regina talked with guests, ate food, danced with Leopold, and listened to him go on about how much he loved Snow and that he missed Eva. However, this time things were different.

"The queen will always live on in our hearts and in my beautiful daughter," The king said sadly. Snow stood up and faced the crowd.

"I have always looked up to my mother and have to thank her for getting me to where I am now. However, it wasn't always just Queen Eva. I would have been dead five years ago if it wasn't for Regina. It may not seem like it, but I wouldn't be half the person I am today if she hadn't of made the sacrifices she made to be my step-mother." Snow smiled at Regina as she continued, "You all believe I will be a lovely queen one day, but, that wouldn't happen if I didn't have a woman like Regina to look up to to get me there." Snow raised her glass. "To Regina!"

All the people in the room raised their glass and repeated after Snow. _Obviously this kid had idea that I had spent the past four years thinking about how I could enact revenge on Snow White and her father. _Regina had gone over hundreds of ways to kill the little brat just to cheer herself up and here she was being praised by the princess herself. Regina faked smiles as people went over to talk to her.

As the night went on all Regina could think about is what will happen to the kingdom once the king is dead and she regains her freedom.


	3. The Beginning

Chapter 3: The Beginning

Regina was peacefully asleep in her bed when she heard the explosion. As she ran out to the hallway, she saw maids and guards running in both directions. _What the hell just happened? _Leopold's kingdom was one of the most peaceful so there would be no need for war. More explosions came and shook the castle. Regina ran to the king's room to find answers.

As she pushed open the door she saw what she believed to be a wraith hovering over the king. It took her a millisecond to process what was happening. She opened her palm and thought about all the times her mother abused her. _"Magic is created through emotion, dearie." _Rumpelstiltskin's words echoed through her head. A spark of light flickered in her hand and as soon as the fireball formed she hurled it forward. The wraith was to busy sucking the king's soul out to notice the fire hurdling towards it. As soon as it made contact, the wraith screeched and flew out the open balcony.

Regina quickly ran to the king's side. It was true that she hated the man but if his death seemed for like an accident the kingdom would be easier on her.

"Your Majesty!" She called. "Leopold!"

She tried shaking him but he didn't respond. She tried finding his pulse but had no such luck. _The king is dead. _She backed away slowly. _No, he's not supposed to go out like this. He was supposed to die by my hand. _She still wasn't used to running the kingdom and now she would have no one at her side to help her. No one except Snow.

_Snow. What ever happened to the little brat anyways? _That was when Regina noticed the explosions had stopped. She made her way through the empty halls of the castle that were once filled with chaos. She entered the throne room to find all the servants, guards, and Snow looking up to her. Her heart froze. They were all awaiting orders from the king and hoped that she had some idea what they were.

"My Queen," Johanna piped up, "what actions must we take? Where is the king?"

Regina's head was still spinning over what had just happened.

"The king... is dead."

It felt as if everyone in the room had stopped breathing. Regina looked over all the faces. All the faces that now looked to her for a leader. She froze when she saw Snow's face. Her eyes were full of devastation and anger, something Regina thought she would never see in the princess.

"Do we have any idea who did this?" Regina broke the silence.

"No your majesty. All we saw was shadows firing from a distance. They just attacked and left." Well this was definitely turning out to be one hell of a night.

"Send out a party to try and get more information on the attackers. Everyone else; you should try to get some sleep. We'll figure things out in the morning." _Really Regina? That's the best you can come up with? If mother was here she would know exactly what to do. _Regina scolded herself.

Regina went up to her room and locked the door. She really hated going to him for answers but she knew she had no other way.

"Rumpelstiltskin."

"So. The king is dead. Nice work dearie." The imp appeared in a cloud of red smoke.

"Do you have any idea as to who was behind it? Someone sent a wraith to collect his soul."

"Dark forces are rising dearie. Forces that make your mother look like a saint. Their goal is to destroy the enchanted forest as well as its residents. What's the use of being a queen when you have no one to rule over?"

"Tell me what I must do." Regina was getting impatient with the imp.

"For me to tell you what to do, I'd have to look into your future and, alas, all magic comes with a price," He said with a wicked grin on his face.

Regina rolled her eyes. She had no idea what that idiot brunette Belle saw in him. "What is it that you want?"

He started circling her like he was stalking his prey. "Well lets see. Ah! Your firstborn." He released one of his famous giggle when he saw to stumped look on Regina's face.

"But, you gave me a potion so I wouldn't be able to conceive."

"Well then... what's the harm?"

"Deal." He released another giggle.

"Seems to me dearie that you have to put together a team to defeat this threat. A team that consists of one with the darkest heart, one with the purest heart, the heartless, and one full of heart, one that has gotten everything and one that has gotten nothing."

Words could not express the hatred Regina had for the dark one's puzzles. She had to find six people who were opposites of each other and one could only assume that they had a deadline to find them.

"Where do I find them?"

"Some will be right in front of you. Others will come to you." With that he took his leave and left Regina alone in her room to figure out who was needed to protect the kingdom.

**Please leave a review. This is only my second fanfic and I want to make sure I don't mess things up! **


	4. Reign of the Evil Queen

Chapter 4: Reign of the Evil Queen

Regina was still stumped by the imp's words. How would she be able to find everyone within a short time. Multiple people had these qualities but how would she know which one would be the right one? Rumpelstiltskin was obviously the one with the darkest heart. _He is the dark one after all. _The next step was finding his opposite.

"Your majesty?" Johanna spoke behind the closed door. "Snow wishes to speak with you."

"I'll be right there." Regina took a deep breath and tried to put on her best devastated look. She had to fool that princess into thinking she actually cared about her husband. She went over to the princess's room and saw her crying softly on the bed. So her mother died on her birthday and her father died the day after. _Poor kid. _Regina hated her mother and banished her but the thought of Cora dying wasn't a pleasant one.

"Snow?"

Snow shot up and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Regina."

"If there is anything I can do to help, please, let me know. The loss I feel for my husband must be nothing compared to the loss of a father." Snow got off her bed and ran into Regina's arms.

"I loved him so much." She mumbled.

"I did too." Regina whispered. Even though she hated the man she did at least respect him.

They stayed like that for a few minutes until Snow finally calmed down.

"We will be honoring him later on tonight. I'll see you there." Regina slipped out of the room and tried to get some sleep.

Regina had barely gotten any sleep that night. The answers Rumpelstiltskin had even her kept clouding her thoughts. How was she going to gather the six needed people when she was to run a kingdom? Snow could probably look over things in her absence but there is only so much a sixteen year-old girl can do.

She pulled out her favorite red dress and put on a black coat over it. Today was the day that she would officially gain control over the kingdom. _ If only mother could see me now. _She exited her room and went off to join the rest of her people.

Snow was kneeling in front of her father's lifeless body and was trying to talk to him. Regina walked up and got down next to her and put her arm around the young princess. Snow only leaned into her embrace and continued talking. Regina could feel the eyes of all the people gathered fall directly on her. Regina tried her best to ignore them for the rest of the ceremony.

After everyone left the head guard came up to her,

"Your majesty, we have searched the surrounding forest and have come up empty. What is our next move?"

"Guard the castle and focus on the repairs." Regina knew that the guards wouldn't be able handle what was coming to their kingdom. She just wanted to make sure no one would kill her before she could do something about it.

"Your majesty!" A servant ran up to her. "The people want to know what you plan on doing about the attack."

"I plan to protect my kingdom." She simply said and walked away.

A few moment later she heard a knocking on her door. She got up and flung the door open already frustrated with all the people she had to put up with in the past few minutes.

"This better be impor-" She stopped when she saw who it was. "Oh, hello daddy."

"How are you holding up my dear?"

"Fine. I'm just a little tensed with all the new responsibility."

"It's understandable. I was just thinking maybe you should have a personal guard."

"Daddy I'm fine." She knew that her magic would be able to protect her against a wraith.

"I'm just worried. I don't want anything happening to you."

"I'll be fine. If you really feel that uncomfortable, you can stay with me tonight."

She smiled warmly thinking about all the times she had her father watch over her after a bad dream. He walked over to the couch and took a seat. She went and sat next to him.

"So do you know who is behind this?"

"Not entirely. I spoke with Rumpelstiltskin." She saw her father's face grow cold at the mentioning of the dark one. "He said that a dark force was coming to destroy the Enchanted Forest and only a band of six people can stop them."

"Do you know who these six people are?"

"I know Rumpelstiltskin is among them but I have to figure out the rest for myself."

She heard a knocking on her door. Regina groaned then went over to open the door that revealed the princess.

"Regina, I was wondering if I could maybe spend the night with you?" she saw Henry over Regina's shoulder, "unless I'm interrupting something." She said sheepishly. Regina glanced over to her father who nodded.

"Come in." Snow followed Regina over to the couch and waved to Henry.

"We were just talking about finding the person who is responsible for your father's death."

"What do you know about it?"

"Whoever is behind it is a great force with a very dark agenda."

"But you don't have to worry. We are going to put together a team to stop this person." Henry chimed in.

"We will make them pay for what they did to the king." Regina said putting her hand on Snow's.

"Yes. Find them but I don't want them to suffer. It just wouldn't be right." Snow said quietly.

"But they killed your father."

"I know but I made a promise to my mother that I would be good and torturing the culprit would lead me down the wrong path."

Regina couldn't but chuckle at the girl's words. This girl who had killed Regina's fiance because she couldn't keep her trap shut now wanted to protect the person that killed her father. And then it hit her. Rumpelstiltskin had said that some of the saviors would be right in front of her but she never thought it would be like this. Snow White had the purest heart and was the dark one's opposite. _Well duh her name is Snow White. _

Regina couldn't help but stare at the young princess. How was this innocent, little thing going to help her destroy the dark forces? Snow smiled at her sweetly and started on another topic. Regina stopped listening as she was thinking about who else she needed. Someone heartless... Well she always called her mother heartless but she never thought it was actually true. She prayed it wasn't. She had no intention on seeing her mother again; she didn't even think it was possible. Then she remembered that Jefferson could probably help her. All she needed to do was find him and go to Wonderland to recover another missing piece of the puzzle.

She would go seek him out the next day and talk him into going on a trip. She had no idea what she was going to say to her mother and that was even if her mother was proven to be heartless.

However, her ideas were cut short when she heard the next round of explosions and the screeching of a wraith.


	5. The Purest Heart

Chapter 5: The Purest Heart

All at once, every light in the castle was blown out by a strong gust of wind. Regina knew that last time was only a warning and now it was the real deal. She instinctively light a fireball in her hand, forgetting about her audience. Snow shot up and stumbled backwards at the sight.

"Y-you know dark magic?" Snow looked over to Henry looking for any surprise on his face but there wasn't any.

"We need to sneak out. Going with the guards will only draw more attention to us and that's the last thing we need with the wraith after us." Regina quickly said and started leading the way.

"What's a wraith?" Snow as desperately. Once again the duo left her question unanswered. Snow simply grumbled and stomped after them.

As soon as they were out in the hallway they could hear the screams coming from the guards. The farther they got down the hall, the louder the screams came, followed by the bodies of fallen soldiers with a thick pool of blood forming underneath them.

Henry saw the look on Snow's face and held his hands over her ears after telling her to close her eyes. Snow wanted to feint then and there but she did as she was told and went where ever Henry's arms lead her. Soon enough she heard a loud bang behind and when she jerked around she was relieved to see Regina closed the door to the library.

"Stay close. There's a hidden passageway around here somewhere." It had been a long time since Regina last went to her vault and she couldn't remember which shelf it was behind.

Snow started wondering around the room trying to take it all in. She couldn't help but think this would be her last time here. As she rounded a bookcase, she almost had a heart attack when she saw another dead guard. He defiantly wasn't breathing but there were no marks on him. It was like some had just sucked the life out of him. _So this is what a wraith does. _She looked around her and decided to take the bow and arrows the guard had. _Just in case. _

Regina kept searching through the book cases to find the right one. She wasn't sure if she skipped over it or not due to the amount of stress put on her for saving her companions. She would always help her father no matter what but she would be perfectly content in letting the little brat die here if it wasn't for the fact that she was needed to help Regina. _Speaking of the little devil. Where in the world is she? _She looked over to her father, who was just sitting on one of the benches, then looked around the room.

"Dad?" He looked up to her curiously, "Where is Snow White?" She saw his face flush as he looked around and didn't see her.

"She was just here a minute ago. I'll go look for her, you keep working on getting us out."

Snow White was sitting next to the fallen guard, placing his hands together on his chest. She barely even knew him but already felt tears well up in her eyes.

"Snow." She felt Henry's hand fall on her shoulder. She stood up and looked him in the eye.

"He died for someone he didn't even know." She mumbled.

"That was his job. Now come, we wouldn't want his sacrifice to be in vain." He decided not to ask the princess why she had taken his weapons.

"Aha!" Regina exclaimed triumphantly as the bookcase swung open to reveal the staircase. Just then she heard the library door creek open. In the split-second that Regina took to turn her head an arrow found it's way into the gut of the intruder. Regina turned to see Snow posed with the bow with another arrow pulled back if needed. Regina didn't even bother to give voice to all the questions running through her mind. She did, however, want to get answers from to thug in the doorway. She grabbed his shirt and lifted him up harshly.

"Who sent you?" His response was a round of coughing.

"I'll t-tell you... one thing. You have a year." And with that he was gone.

"What does he mean a year?" Snow demanded.

"We have a year to stop them." Regina answered with a sigh.

"I know this is a little off topic, but where did you learn to shoot like that princess?" Henry asked.

Snow's face reddened. "Well... I uh took archery lessons with one of the guards when my father was away.." Regina couldn't help but smile at the girl's confession.

"Alright lets go." Regina lead them down the stairs and into her vault. Snow wondered around and started touching everything like any little kid would do. Henry's face grew pale with a weird feeling of deja vu from being in Cora's vault.

Snow walked along the walls and could help asking the thought that was bouncing around in her head.

"Are these holding hearts?" She said and waved her hand over all the boxes. Regina simply looked at her and nodded. Some of them were her mother's that she brought over here so no one else would take them but most of them she had ripped out herself during her trips with Rumpelstiltskin.

The princess just looked down and kept walking around the vault. She stopped short when her hand brushed against a door knob. When she glanced around she met Regina's eyes that seemed to ignite from seeing the princess about to enter her private room.

"Don't go in there!" She said coldly to the young princess. Snow took one more look into Regina's eyes and knew to obey her orders.

"What's in there?"

"That is none of your business." Regina snapped. _Whatever is in there is probably way too personal. _Snow thought and walked away, although curiosity over what was in there did bite at her.

Regina almost killed the girl right on the spot if she had turned that doorknob. Not even her father knew what she kept in there. She was afraid on how he would react upon seeing his dead stable boy in his daughter's vault. Regina groaned and pulled out the last thing she wanted to take; her mother's spell book.

"Alright lets go."

"What are you going to do with all the hearts?" Snow asked while walking over to her.

"I'm putting a protection spell on it. Only my family would be able to break it." She said while waving for the group to follow her.

"Where are we going?" Henry asked quietly.

"To the dark one's castle. It's not too far from here."

Once they got outside, Regina opened her mother's spell book. They needed a quick way for transportation and since Regina could teleport herself yet, she needed to summon their horses. It was easier to pull things toward you then to move yourself to another location so she thought it would be fine. She found the page then blew onto the spell like she had seen her mother done all those years ago. She whispered the names of the three horses and soon enough the horses were galloping over to the trio.

She threw her pack on top of Rocinante and swung herself on him. Snow and Henry did the same and they were off to Rumpelstiltskin's. The trip was quiet since no one had anything to say. Everyone was still in shock from the past two days and what the next couple of months looked like.

Once they got to the castle they were let in my Belle, who lead them directly to the imp.

"So you managed to figure out who one of your players are." The imp giggled.

"I'm in no mood. We just need some supplies and a change of clothes."

"Done." With a snap of his fingers, the trio was put into new clothes and a pack of supplies appeared at their feet. "Don't worry dearie, this one's on me."

Regina walked over to the mirror. Her hair was left down and she was wearing a tight black leather coat with a collar that came up her neck as well as a back that came down below her knees. She had on black leather pants with black boots that came up to her knees. And of course, her engagement ring around her neck.

She glanced over to her father who was wearing his usual outfit except black. She half-expected Snow to be dressed in black too but of instead she was wearing a white blouse with a tan leather vest over it that had a fur collar. She had on tan leather pants with Dark brown boots. Regina did have to admit, the rugged look suited her.

"Oh, one more thing." He gave Snow a new bow and more arrows. He gave Henry a sword and dagger.

"Be careful with that bow dearie, its enchanted. Those arrows will never miss their target."

Snow smiled at him. "Thank you." Regina just rolled her eyes.

Now on to Jefferson's house.


	6. Jefferson?

Chapter 6: Jefferson?

"Are we there yet?"

"Snow, don't you even start." Regina snapped. Snow lowered her head and kept on riding. Regina had a bad feeling about going to Jefferson's. If the dark force wants power then they would surely want a passage between realms. Wouldn't they? Regina could barely think straight anymore. The group had been traveling for two days without any sleeping breaks and now everyone was exhausted.

"Is that it?" Regina heard her father and looked to where he was pointing. Jefferson's hut was ahead.

"Yes."

"Why does he live in a place like that?" Snow chimed in.

"He gave up his line of work after his wife died and he spends any money he can on his daughter."

They tied their horses to the trees and went inside. No one was home except for an unconscious toddler laying in bed. She had a small gash on her head that Snow immediately noticed and started to care for. After mumbling a few things to the girl and stroking her hair, Jefferson's daughter's eyes started to flutter open.

"D-Daddy?" The girl said and looked around.

"No Grace, your father isn't here." Regina said from behind Snow.

"Grace do you have any idea who did this to you?" Snow asked in a gentle tone.

"A man came here and took daddy then hit me."

"Did you see who this man was?"

"No. He was wearing a mask. He did have a lot of gold jewelry so he might be royal." Grace muttered and rubbed her head.

"Do you know what direction they came from?" Grace nodded and got up. When she got in the doorway she pointed to the east.

"Thank you. Do you have anyone to stay with now?"

"My daddy sends me to the neighbors when he has to go out."

"Okay go and stay with them until your daddy comes back." Snow gave the girl a warm smile and Grace ran off. Regina sighed and walked out to the horses.

"We'll go to the next town in that direction and ask around." Henry said as he got on his horse.

They tied their horses up on a fence next to a pub and walked in. Regina looked around and couldn't help but laugh at the sight of her companions. Henry seemed to be absolutely disgusted while Snow was incredibly fascinated at all the commoners. Regina walked up to a table filled with people who seemed... decent.

"Excuse me?" All the men looked up.

"Have any of you gentlemen seen two men go through town. A commoner and maybe a royal wearing black?"

"Aye, except there was two royals and a commoner."

"Which way did they go?"

The man looked at her smugly. "Well how bout we go talk about this... privately." All the men laughed. Regina was having a hard time controlling her urge to kill them when another man saved her.

"Well that's no way to talk to a lady. Little John I thought you knew better." Little John looked down and left the table. Regina looked over to the other man.

"I'm sorry, he's still a little new. I'm Robin Hood." He held out his hand to shake. The urge to kill the men was wiped completely when the urge to disappear became stronger. Regina shook the hand of the man Tinkerbell predicted she'd fall in love with.

"What a lovely tattoo." Was all Regina could say.

"Thank you. Now I believe you were looking for someone?"

"Yes two royals wearing black traveling with a commoner." Snow finally said.

"Ah yes. They seemed to be heading towards King George's kingdom. They left just a few minutes ago. If it helps you any one of the royals looked more like a thug... and a girl."

"A prince a thug and a hatter." Henry whispered to himself. The three thanked Robin and were on their way out when a doctor busted through the door. Panic swept the entire tavern as they awaited what the doctor had to say.

"Robin! The travelers that passed through here raided the people's houses; including yours!"

"But Marian was home." Robin said grimly.

"I'm well aware but sadly pregnant women don't fare well against trained thugs." The doctor said breathlessly. Robin's face grew pale at the doctor's words. The entire tavern was dead silent.

"Is Marian alright?" Robin said as he ran up to the doctor.

"Yes, she had minor wounds but she and the baby will be fine." Sighs of relief filled the tavern. Robin turned towards Regina.

"I hope you don't mind but it seems I'll be joining you on your quest to find the travelers."

"But we-"

"My wife was assaulted and my property was stolen. I'm coming with you and you can't stop me." Before anyone could say anything else, Robin grabbed his cloak as well as his bow and arrows and stormed out the door. _So the supposed love of my life is married and expecting. Great._

"So why do you want this prince?" Robin asked as soon as the trio followed him outside.

"He kidnapped a friend of mine." Regina replied.

"I'm guessing the commoner."

"You got it." Snow said.

"Don't worry. We'll get him back and make sure this prince pays for his crimes," Robin said and smiled, "before we continue though I would love to know your names."

"I'm Sn- Mary Margret." She said and bowed.

"Henry." The two men shook hands.

"Regina."

"What a lovely name."

Jefferson sat on a cold, stone floor and was pulling furiously at his shackles.

"Don't bother. Hundreds of people have tried and hundreds of people have failed." A voice hidden by shadows said.

"Maybe they were just loosening them up for me." Jefferson chuckled.

"Perhaps." A female spoke out.

"Where am I?"

"Well that's for us to know and for you to find out."

"Could you at least tell me who I had the pleasure of being kidnapped by?"

"The name is James."

"And I go by Jack." Jefferson heard shuffling and knew that his company had left. He released a deep breath. Now he had to figure out how to escape King George's prison.

**Reviews are always lovely and if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them. I still haven't decided who is full of heart yet. Either David, Graham, or Robin.**


	7. The Shepherd

Chapter 7: The Shepherd

As the group continued on the young princess only became more annoying.

"How much farther?" "I'm tired." "Regina, when can we stop?" Regina just tried to ignore her. Her gaze remained on the road ahead until the newest member of the group rode up along side of her.

"So what's with the kid?" Robin said and glanced back at Snow.

"Her parents died and she decided to tag along." Regina honestly didn't know what to think of the girl. Robin smiled in understanding and they rode in silence for a few moments.

"So... you're having a kid. That must be exciting." Regina tried to tone down the awkwardness.

"Yes, I will admit it has been hard. First my wife gets deathly sick which leads to me stealing from the dark one to save her. Then, the travelers break into my house and assault my wife."

"Stealing from the dark one huh? I can tell it's been hard." He chuckled and the silence came back.

"So do you have any children?" Regina looked at him and saw he was dead serious. She always thought about having kids but the closest thing she could get was Snow.

"No."

"Shame. I think you'd make a great mother." She looked at him with great curiosity and smiled.

"You barely know me."

"Even so, you have this certain aura that tells me about you." Regina felt a wave of shame wash over her as she realized that she could have been a mother if she gave this man a chance four years ago. Luckily she was saved when she heard Snow shout and race ahead of her.

"Snow?"

"Regina look, there's a farm ahead. Could we take a break here? Please?" The girl was talking a mile a minute so all Regina could tell her was "yes." Snow dashed forward into the meadow and leaped off her horse. She immediately fell flat on the ground due to all the hours spent riding her horse and not using her legs.

"Are you alright?" Snow looked up and saw a hand being offered to her. She took it and was lifted off the ground by the stranger.

"I'm fine. I-" Snow looked into the deep blue eyes of the stranger.

"I'm David." He said while holding his hand out to shake.

"I'm Snow." _Well there goes my cover. _David couldn't help but give her a warm smile as they shook hands.

"Are you and your friends travelers?" Snow looked back at the gang and back to the man and nodded.

"Yes. We were on our way to King George's kingdom and we stopped to take a break."

"Well invite your friends inside. My mother just finished making dinner and I'm sure she'd loved some guests. Not many people travel through here anymore." The shepherd explained. Snow smiled sweetly and ran off to gather her friends.

"Snow, who was that?" Regina questioned after seeing the princess talk to the stranger.

"A man who lives here. He invited all of us to join him and his mother to have dinner."

"Snow," Regina sighed at the girl, "just because he looks nice doesn't mean you can trust him." Regina couldn't help thinking about how much of a hypocrite she was being. Cora always told Regina not to trust commoners even if they looked trustworthy but there she was, years ago, almost marrying one who she even bothered talking to at first because he was handsome.

"Regina," Her father's voice pulled her out of her thoughts of Daniel, "I think we should take the young man's offer. We are running low on food."

"Fine." She huffed.

They all sat around the dinner table as Ruth passed out to food. Regina rolled her eyes when she saw the young princess sitting next to the shepherd, having their own little conversation. Robin seemed to be focusing on the prince then brought his attention to her.

"Regina, I never asked. Do you happen to have a loved one?" Robin asked as he sat next to her.

"No. I just have my fiance but he died around five years ago." This seemed to catch everyone's attention.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Ruth and Robin almost said in unison. Regina looked around at her companions. Snow's face was deathly pale, Henry was full of utter shock since he had no idea that Regina ever had a relationship, and Robin's face showed deep sorrow.

"Well, we should eat before the food gets cold." Regina desperately tried to change the subject. Once the group all had enough food, Ruth tried to start a conversation with the gang.

"So, where you guys raveling to?"

"King George's castle." Robin seethed, thinking about what the prince did to his wife.

"What brings you there?"

"The prince kidnapped our friend and assaulted his wife." Snow blurted out angrily while pointing to Robin. Regina couldn't wrap her head around why the old woman's face became drained of emotion.

"P-Prince James?" Ruth said barely above a whisper.

"Yes, I believe so." Everyone in the room was confused by the woman's reaction. Everyone except Robin who seemed to be staring at her, intrigued.

"Excuse me." Ruth got up and scrambled out of the room.

"What was that about?" Snow asked looking towards her new friend.

"David, do you happen to have any siblings?" Robin questioned.

"No. Why?"

"It's just that the prince looks exactly like you. Except his hair is shorter." The shepherd obviously didn't know what Robin was hinting.

"Let me go talk to her." Henry grunted and walked of towards Ruth.

"Ruth?" She just mumbled as Henry grew near.

"What is it?" She asked, not even looking at Henry.

"David isn't your only son, is he?" Ruth looked back at the old man.

"My husband was on the verge of losing the farm. Rumpelstiltskin said that if we gave him one of our twin boys then he would save the farm. Part of the deal was to never tell David." Ruth let out a deep sigh and looked out towards to meadow.

"It must have been really difficult but you should be happy, you did end up with a wonderful son like David."

"Yes, but the other one became corrupt."

Regina woke up to the sounds of laughter coming from outside. She looked out the open doorway to see the young princess being spun through the air by the shepherd. Regina smiled at the sight of David pulling the princess close and pressing their lips together. When they broke, Snow just smiled sweetly at him and leaned in for another kiss. The couple walked over to the sheep pen to start feeding them.

"Wow, these guys are really greedy huh?" The princess asked innocently.

"Yeah, one minute they're all loving but when you bring in the food it's every sheep for themselves." David chuckled. David and Snow spent the next two hours playing with the younger sheep, stopping every once in a while to have a little make-out session.

Regina was perfectly content in watching the two through the window in the kitchen of the small house. After some time, Ruth walked up to join her.

"Seems like those two really connected."

"Love at first sight." Regina said more towards herself.

"James has always had a big heart. I'm glad he found someone to share it with." Now that opened Regina's eyes. Rumple said some might come to her. She looked back towards the Shepherd who was full of heart.

"Are you sure you want to go?" Ruth said worriedly.

"Mom, I'll be fine. I really want to meet my brother." Regina knew the bigger reason was because he didn't want to leave Snow's side. It was obviously shown when they decided to share a horse instead of getting another.

"I'm just worried about you. If anything gets too dangerous promise me that you'll come straight home."

"I promise." Regina thought it was best not to mention that the shepherd was needed to defeat the dark forces considering his mother was flipping out when he wanted to visit the King's palace, which wasn't too far from here.

"I love you."

"I love you too, mom." Regina could see the apparent sadness on Snow's face at the thought of a loving mother. Regina had felt like someone dropped a weight on her heart when she saw the girl's face.

"Alright lets go." She wanted to get this over with as soon as she could. The five of them set out towards the king's castle.

"Well look who's awake." Jefferson looked up and saw a woman with dark hair and light eyes looking down at him.

"Who are you?"

"Well as I said before, my name is Jack, short for Jacqueline. Most people know as a giant slayer." Jefferson definitely had heard of her and her feats and was slightly scared of the woman.

"Well most people know me as a hatter." Jefferson smiled.

"Yes but you are so much more." Jack said excitedly. "Don't worry once our job is done you will be released."

"What is it that you need?" Jefferson was now paying closer attention to the woman.

"Just a little visit to my cousin." Jack smiled as she stood up to walk away, leaving the hatter alone again. As Jefferson closed his eyes, a puff of red smoke appeared and revealed Rumpelstiltskin.

"What do you want?" Jefferson was in no mood for any deals.

"Just to give you some insight on the current events." Rumpelstiltskin giggled which just irritated Jefferson even more. "Regina will be coming for you and when she does, you need to take her to Wonderland as well as a lovely place called Oz.

"What's in Oz?"

"That's for her to figure out dearie." Rumple said as the red smoke returned. Jefferson was alone once more.


	8. Full of Heart

Chapter 8: Full of Heart

The group rested halfway towards King George's castle after she saw her father almost fall off his horse. She knew that Robin and herself were the only ones that were really suited for the trip but she had hoped the others could prove her wrong.

"So what are you going to say when you meet your brother?" Snow asked after taking a sip from her canteen.

"Honestly, I have no idea." David sat down next to Snow. "He must be just as surprised as I am."

Snow nodded and took another swig from her canteen. "Let's hope we won't have to wait months to actually see him." Just then, the entire group was interrupted by screaming.

"Help!" A woman's voice broke through the woods. Everyone stood up and pulled out a weapon, David pulled out the sword that Henry gave him. Another scream was heard from the east. David and Snow bolted off without hesitation.

The pair wound up in a swamp and slowed their pace. They stood back to back to try to listen for more screams but nothing came.

"David, maybe we should go back." Snow said with a hint of fear in her voice.

"Someone needs our help. We can't just ignore that."

The duo heard twigs snap to their right. Both spun and faced a young woman with long red hair tied up in a messy braid, wearing a long, ripped up dark green dress.

"Help." She said barely above a whisper.

"Who are you?" Snow asked.

"My name is Fiona."

Just then they heard the unmistakable roar of an ogre.

_**David was outside in the sheep pen when his mother came out. **_

"_**David, your father wants to see you." **_

_**David just sat with his head in his hands. He didn't want to see his father in the state that he was in right now. His father had been ill for the past three months and was getting worse. The twelve year-old couldn't help but think about what was sure to happen.**_

"_**David! Please just come inside."**_

_**David could tell his mother was on the verge of tears. His mother had been crying more often now and David couldn't stand seeing her so miserable. He got up and walked past his mother without saying a word. He went into his parents room and immediately wanted to bolt back out again. It hurt David to see to strong, sturdy man that had taught him everything, that had built the house and made repairs, that had ran around the fields rounding up the sheep with the ease that David would never have, lay in bed looking so small and fragile. **_

"_**David. Come here, my boy." The man patted a spot next to him on the bed. David went and sat next to him and relaxed only when the man put his once strong arms around his son.**_

"_**David, I need you to promise me something." **_

_**David looked up into his father's face and nodded.**_

"_**Promise me that you will always look after your mother. She needs you more than you think."**_

"_**I promise." David's voice was barely audible.**_

"_**I love you, please don't forget that."**_

_**And with that, David finally allowed himself to cry. He stayed in his father's arms until he passed out and his mother brought him to bed.**_

"Be very quiet. I read that ogres are blind and hunt on noise." Snow whispered.

The group started to back away slowly, carefully avoiding any twigs or anything that would give them away. In a split-second, a bird flew ahead and Fiona whipped her head around to see it, causing herself to trip over a fallen branch. As she fell she let out a shriek that was quickly muffled by the hand Snow wrapped around her mouth.

"Too late." David whispered.

The next few moments seemed like a blur to David. The group started running. The ground started shaking as the ogre stormed after them. Trees falling away as the ogre's body broke through them. David tugging on Fiona's hand when she started falling behind. David pulling Fiona down, causing the entire group to stop. Snow Pulling out an arrow and setting it into the bow; aiming it at the ogre's head as it broke through more trees and into view. Snow released the arrow and it flew directly into its eye.

David and Fiona both stood there speechless. The ogre's body landed with a giant thud as Snow turned to face her companions.

"What?" She asked clueless when she saw the shepherd and the stranger with their mouths hanging open. It took David a minute to take in what just happened. He ran up to Snow and spun her in his arms.

"That, my dear Snow, was amazing."

He pressed his lips against hers and put his arms around her waist. Snow was a little shock but complied gratefully. She ran his fingers through his long shaggy hair and deepened the kiss. Words could not expressed how much David loved this woman. The two broke when a cough from behind them reminded them of their company. As they walked back together, David and Snow's face remained a bright red shade.

As soon as they got back, Regina ran up to them with a worried look on her face.

"Where the hell did you two go?"

"This woman was being hunted on by an ogre." David said and motioned towards Fiona.

"You could of gotten yourselves killed." Regina snapped.

"Please, I just need to get back to my kingdom." Fiona squeaked.

"And what kingdom is that?" Regina asked.

"King Leopold's. A wraith attacked my village and I fled here. I must see if there were survivors."

"Regina, we have to take her back, she can't make the trip herself." Snow pleaded.

With Snow's words, something seemed to click inside the woman's head.

"Snow, Regina..." The woman gasped when she realized who she was standing in front of. "Your majesties." She said with a bow.

"Your majesty?" Robin asked.

"Yes, Queen Regina and Princess Snow White of King Leopold's court." Fiona said, still in shock.

"Well isn't this a lovely surprise?" Robin muttered and walked away. Regina went after him.

"Robin wait." She pleaded.

"Why didn't you tell me you were royalty?" He turned and faced her.

"I didn't think it mattered."

"Well it does to me. Thieves like me get hung on sight by your people."

"Well I'm nothing like _my people_." She snapped.

He looked right into her eyes. "Then prove it." Now this would be the part where she'd kiss him but since he's married and expecting she would have to find another way no matter how much she wanted him.

"I... I don't know how." She confessed.

"Of course you don't. Let's... Let's just keep going. The sooner this is over, the better." He looked down and walked past her. She let a single tear fall before following him.

_**David sat at the foot of his father's grave. The night he spent in his father's arms turned out to be the last night he would spend with the man. David was told to be grateful that he passed peacefully in his sleep but to him it didn't matter. Dead is Dead. There wasn't anything in this world that would change that fact or make it easier for him. **_

"_**I love you, dad. I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to say that to you lately." David placed a single rose on his father's grave. He didn't move when he felt his mother's hand on his shoulder.**_

"_**David, it's time to go." He nodded and walked back to the house without another word.**_

_**David didn't say another word for the next two days and Ruth began to worry about him.**_

"_**David, you need to at least eat your food." Ruth looked at her son whose eyes were plastered to the chair his father once occupied. She reached over the table and grabbed his hand.**_

"_**I know this is hard but I need you to try and help me out."**_

"_**Excuse me." David whispered and went to his room. He sat at his desk and stared out the window for what seemed like hours. He was interrupted when he heard small cries coming from his mother's room. He walked over and peeked through a crack in the door. **_

_**His mother was laying on her bed softly crying to herself.**_

"_**Mitchell, please help me, I'm losing our son and I don't know what to do." Ruth cried out.**_

_**David never realized how much he had pulled away from his mother. He open the door and walked over to his mother. He laid down in the bed and wrapped his arms around his mother. He remembered the promise he made his father and he vowed to keep it.**_

"So, your royal highness, what's your plan?" Robin asked.

Regina looked around and saw the faces of her companions. They all wanted to help the young woman but Regina thought helping Jefferson was more important. She let out a deep sigh.

"Alright, we'll bring her back."

Snow and David did a little high-five before thanking Regina. They all packed up together and Fiona climbed on Henry's horse. Henry got up on Rocinante with Regina and they started back down the road they came on.

After an hour of riding, Robin pulled up beside Regina.

"Thank you."

"I didn't do anything."

"You showed me that you care for your people. You chose to help a commoner over one of your own friends. That's something no royal would do."

Regina smirked. "I did tell you I wasn't like the others."

"Let me guess. You married into the throne?"

"My father was fifth in line for his kingdom and my mother was desperate. When Snow was younger I saved her life and Leopold decided to make me her royal babysitter. When he proposed my mother didn't even hesitate to answer for me and I was stuck going along with her plans to gain power." Regina didn't exactly know why she trusted him so much to tell him something she never told anyone.

"I'm sorry for acting like I did before. I've spent so much time avoiding royals, I guess I got frustrated when one was able to sneak up on me." Robin explained.

Regina smiled at him. She really started to hate herself for passing up on him. _Maybe if Marian was out of the picture...No. _She had to stop thinking like that. She always hated the idea of becoming her mother and Robin was really opening her eyes to all the similarities between the two. When it becomes time to face her mother Regina wants to prove that she was better off without Cora. So far there was only one thing they had in common with the exception of magic. They were both terrible mothers.

Regina looked back at Snow who was resting her head on David's back, smiling contently to herself. At least Regina still had a chance to change things.

Jefferson watched as the two figures approached him.

"What now?"

"Just wanted to let you know that we leave in two days." Jack smiled at him.

"Right, to visit your cousin."

"Exactly. We came to discuss the terms of payment."

Jefferson chuckled. "Your paying me?"

"No. In return for helping us you get your life, but your life, surprisingly, doesn't equal to a trip to another world. So instead you have to help us with something else as well." James cut in.

"What do you want me to help you with?"

"Your friends with the dark one. We need you to get something from him for us."

"And what is it that you want?"

"Knowledge." Jack chimed in.

"Something is coming to the Enchanted Forest, that much is clear. Based on how calm the dark one has been lately, he knows that whatever that's coming will be stopped. We want to know how and by whom." James continued.

"Why?"

"So we can stop them." Jack said innocently.

Jefferson's eyes widened. _That's why they want to leave? They want the entire Enchanted Forest to suffer while they get the free pass out. _

"May I ask what world you want to go to?"

"Wonderland." Jack said on the way out.

Jefferson just smiled. _To Wonderland it is_.

**Reviews are always lovely! Things are going to get more interesting in Wonderland. Ideas are always welcome.**


	9. Breaking Free

Chapter 9: Breaking Free

"Wake up."

A bucket of water was dumped on Jefferson shortly after he opened his eyes. He looked up into the cold eyes of his captor.

"Your Majesty." He said with a devilish grin. The older man remained expressionless as he looked down to the hatter. "I was beginning to think that your son wouldn't involve you in his little getaway."

George walked over to the man and bent down to look him in the eyes.

"I hope being down here alone hasn't driven you... mad."

A wide grin spread across Jefferson's face as he leaned in close to whisper to the king.

"Oh its gonna take a lot more than that to break me, your highness." He spat.

The King stood up and looked over to the guards.

"Release him and bring him to my throne room." He thought for a moment, letting his eyes sweep over Jefferson's appearance. "Get him some new clothes while your at it." And with that, the king left.

→→→•←←←

The guards did as they were told and soon enough, Jefferson was standing face to face with the king again.

"So, what's the special occasion?" Jefferson raised his hands to emphasize the question.

"Your going to visit the dark one to get us answers." James said from his father's side.

Jefferson let his hands drop to his sides and he let out a deep sigh.

"When are we going?"

"Now." James walked over to Jefferson and tugged on his arm as he lead to way to the carriages. When they got there Jefferson saw Jack leaning against a white carriage, staring intently on her nails. She looked up and smiled when she saw them. James let go of Jefferson and went over to kiss Jack while a guard walked over and open the door to the carriage. The two got in automatically and looked over to him.

"Get in." _Great I have to share a carriage with love birds._

The ride to the dark one's castle was relatively silent. James and Jack remained buried in each others faces while Jefferson just stared out the window.

After a while the carriage stopped and the three got out. They were on a road in the middle of the forest. As Jefferson looked around he could her the couple talking to the guards.

"We walk from here."

"Why couldn't we just ride all the way?"

"We don't want him to know why we're here."

"Alright, lets- HEY! The hatters running!" Jack screamed and the group bolted after Jefferson.

Jefferson wasn't proud to admit that he was used to running from guards. He knew that he would get to Rumpelstiltskin's castle before the guards could catch him. The only person he really had to look for was Jack. That woman was practically born to kill.

Legend had it that Jack climbed the beanstalk and killed all giants that got in her way, save for one that she wanted alive to serve as a reminder. The elder giant had almost had her but she managed to stun him before he was able to kill her with her own sword.

While he was thinking about Jack, Jefferson didn't notice her running up behind him. He heard something snap behind him but before he could turn around, he was tackled to the ground. He looked up into Jack's cold eyes. He wondered how she got like this. _Oh well. It won't matter if I'm dead. _He chuckled nervously.Jefferson was excepting defeat when a wicked smile spread across Jack's face. She pressed a knife next to his neck and leaned in to look him in the eye.

"Now, we are going to visit the dark one, and you are going to be a good boy." She said sweetly. But Jefferson could sense a hint of venom in her voice so he complied. However, before she could drag him back to the prince, a thick cloud of red smoke surrounded him. Jack just stood staring at the space that a human had just occupied a second ago.

→→→•←←←

Jefferson blinked a couple of times before realizing he was in the dark one's castle. He heard humming coming from his right and as he turned to find the source, a young brunette came into view.

"Oh!" The brunette jumped and dropped a tray of tea she had been carrying.

"Sorry." Jefferson mumbled and rubbed the back of his neck.

"No, no, I'm sorry. You must be Jefferson." She held out her hand to shake. "I'm Belle."

Jefferson shook her hand. He honestly had no idea who the perky new maid was. The last young brunette he saw around here was Regina. Whoever she was, she was different from any other servant... it seemed like she actually liked her job.

As they started walking, another idea pushed into Jefferson's head. _Since when did the dark one need a servant? Can't he just use his magic?_ _Could the dark one actually want her company? _He let it slide after his head started hurting.

"Rumple, your guest is here."

Jefferson raised an eyebrow at the girl. _What did she just call him?_

"Thank you dearie. Why don't you go run along to your library." Rumple said and motioned his hands for her to shoo. She smiled brightly and ran off. Jefferson just stood there dumbfounded. He looked up to the dark one and saw... _dare he say it?_... love in his eyes. _Exactly how much did I miss? First the innocent new apprentice turned into the evil queen and now the dark one fell in love with a servant._

"So, you ran from the prince?" The imp snapped Jefferson out of his thoughts.

"Wha-.. uh.. yes. I ran. From the prince." He replied.

"Yes, well there is a problem with that." The dark one giggled. "You don't have your hat." He said while pointing a scaly finger at Jefferson's head.

"Well.. I.."

"Don't worry." Rumpelstiltskin snapped his fingers and with a puff of red smoke, Regina, Snow, Henry, Robin, and David appeared. Jefferson sighed as the confused group looked around.

"What am I supposed to do with them?"

"They can help you get your hat. In return, you must take them to Wonderland."

"Wonderland?" David asked.

"Yes. Cora seems to have made a name for herself there."

Regina looked down and then at Robin who looked like he was about to have a heart attack. When he caught her eye he relaxed and smiled reassuringly at her.

"What does Cora have anything to do with this?" Snow asked and crossed her arms.

"Well dearie, you need her to help stop the dark force that's coming to the Enchanted Forest."

That shut everyone up.

"I'm guessing Regina didn't tell you." The imp giggled as everyone turned to face Regina. All of them had their mouths half open. Regina found the carpet fascinating as she played with the belt of her jacket.

"Regina?"

She looked up into Snow's innocent eyes. She let out a deep sigh. She knew she didn't want to lie to her.

"A darkness is coming here and I need to gather a team that consists of one with the darkest heart, the purest heart, one who is heartless, one full of heart, one who got everything and one who got nothing."

"Yes and it seems the two young love birds are two pieces of the puzzle." Rumple added.

Snow and David looked at each other and blushed.

"So... when do we get my hat?" Jefferson broke the silence that had settled.

"Tomorrow."

"Wait. You mean I have to spend the night here?" Robin said with a hint of fear in his voice.

"As long as you don't steal anything then you won't have to spend it in my dungeon."

"Hey! That was to save my wife!"

"Well it didn't do you much good, she still got seriously injured. Oh! Yes, there's also the fact that you're here... while she's giving birth." He chuckled and carried on with his business. Robin took a few seconds to process what he was just told before calling after the dark one.

"You're lying!"

"Am I dearie?" Rumpelstiltskin waved his hand and the mirror to Robin's left played out a scene. Marian was in her house, laying on her bed. Her hands clenched tight to the bed sheets as she screamed in pain. The village doctor was trying to comfort her but no one could make out what he was saying. Robin only watched a second before bolting out the door. _Well there goes my true love._

Once everyone got settled in, Jefferson watched over to where Regina sat in front of the fireplace.

"I know you went to my house. How's Grace doing?"

"Fine. She had a cut on her head but Snow took care of it. She's staying at your neighbors."

"Thank you." Was all Jefferson said before walking away.

"Oh Jefferson!" He turned to look at her with his arms crossed. "I would like to say poverty suits you... but I'd be lying."

He smiled at her and walked closer.

"And what stops you from lying to me?"

"I don't lie to friends. And yes, I do consider you a friend." She paused and got up. "I'm glad to see you're okay." She walked over and hugged him. She still had no idea what had gotten into her lately but she thought it must be for the best if she no longer day-dreams of killing people. She pulled away from the embrace and went over to sit next to the fire again.

Jefferson stood there watching. He couldn't help but feel guilty about causing Regina to go from sweet and innocent to a ruthless murderer. The people hadn't known about the evil inside but it was very clear to Rumple and Jefferson. He let out a long sigh and walked away.

He should of never made that deal with her mother...


	10. The Hatter

Chapter 10: The Hatter

"Wakey, wakey!" The dark one exclaimed as he went around waking everyone up. Regina sat up in bed and almost threw a shoe at him. Almost. She got up after pushing Snow off the bed. Snow had apparently experienced a nightmare based around Leopold's death and wanted to sleep with Regina instead of her boyfriend. Regina was half-awake when she asked so she ended up mumbling yes to get the girl to shut up.

The young princess crashed to the ground and immediately shot back up.

"Regina!" She screeched. Regina cracked a grin at her and the girl ending up bursting out laughing. Regina didn't know what it was about her that prevented the girl from staying mad at her but she liked it. Snow playfully shoved her before heading down to the dining hall.

Everyone gathered to have a quiet breakfast served by Belle. No one seemed to be in the mood to talk about today's activity.

Once everyone finished, they all got suited up and went out to the stables. Rumpelstiltskin provided more horses so everyone got their own. The only one who seemed to have trouble, was Jefferson. Throughout the whole morning his hands were shaking badly and he barely seemed to acknowledge anything around him. Rumpelstiltskin merely wished them luck and went back to flirting with the maid.

→→→•←←←

The only sounds made throughout the journey was the beating of the horse's hooves and the breathing of her companions. None of them really knew how to fight yet here there were, on their way to break into King George's castle to steal back Jefferson's hat.

"Regina."

She glanced over to see her father riding up alongside of her. He gave her a warm smile due to the fact that she was probably showing her concern on her face.

"We're not a bunch of imbeciles, we know how to take care of ourselves."

"I know, I'm just worried. They have a bunch of trained guards roaming the castle while we have two teenage lovebirds, an apprentice of dark magic, a hatter, and an old man." she let out an exasperated sigh which made her father chuckle.

"I agree that we sound like the start of a bad joke. At least we have the element of surprise on our side."

She grunted in agreement and looked down. _If only Robin was still here. He'd know exactly how to handle this._

Unbeknownst to the group, a couple rode along another road, parallel to the group's. The two watched through the holes in their cover to follow along with their prey. Once their suspicions were confirmed, they kicked up their horses and headed down the trail to alert the King.

→→→•←←←

"_**Annabelle!" **_

_**The young blonde poked her head out the window and looked down at her caller.**_

"_**Yes?"**_

"_**I need to talk to you. I was actually about to start throwing rocks at your window before you answered." She said as he started climbing up the rope of sheets she had thrown out to him. When he got up and sat on the windowsill, he reached into his pocket and pulled out an emerald. He held it out for her to see and a smirk appeared on his face. The sun seemed to hit the emerald just right to cause a glare off on the side and illuminating the entire gem.**_

"_**Oh Jefferson, it's beautiful!"**_

_**He started to glow at her words and a warm smile spread across his face. Not one of his smirks; An actual genuine smile. Annabelle's face only grew serious as she remembered what happened after the last encounter.**_

"_**Jefferson, you know I can't see you."**_

"_**You're looking at me right now, aren't you?"**_

"_**Yes but, you know my father doesn't like your line of work." She looked down at the gem again so she wouldn't have to see the look he gave her.**_

"_**Annabelle, your 20; you don't need your father's permission."**_

_**Her eyes darted back up to his. "I live with my father. I have to obey his rules." She said it forcefully as if she had to tell herself to believe that.**_

"_**Then come live with me. I have another job that might be able to get us the money we need."**_

"_**Jefferson, please tell me your not using that hat again!" As she pleaded she tried to keep the desperation in her voice toned down but she failed miserably.**_

"_**Ana, it only one simple job. I snatch a glass ball for the dark one and get a huge sum of gold in return." He said as if were the as simple as breathing.**_

"_**The dark one! I thought you were down working with him."**_

"_**He's the one that pays me the most." He looked down and pretended to find interest in the wood holding him up. She took his chin in her hand and lifted it up so their eyes met again.**_

"_**Jefferson, just give up the hat. For me, please?"**_

_**He looked into her deep brown eyes for a moment and shifted so he could get back down the rope.**_

"_**I'm sorry Annabelle; I have a job to get to."**_

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"What?!" King George screamed at his son's news.

"The hatter is coming to take back the hat." Jack steeps into the conversation.

"Don't worry father, we will get rid of them." James cuts back in.

"Wait. I have a plan." King George gathers the two and discusses it.

"Guards! Gather in outside my quarters."

→→→•←←←

The group stops short someways away from the castle and wait for nightfall.

"Jefferson?" Regina calls while tying up Rocinante.

He looks up from the fire he started. "Yes?"

"Do you even know where the hat is?"

"Its in the king's bedroom."He says gravely. Everyone snaps their head around to look at him.

"And you didn't think to tell us sooner?!" Snow shouts.

"Snow?"

Her face goes deathly pale. "I'm sorry Regina, he just got me upset." She quickly turns and buries her face into David's arm.

"I'm sorry. I thought it if I told you, then you wouldn't want to help." He mutters sheepishly.

"Nonsense." Another voice calls. Everyone turns to look for the familiar voice's source. Robin steps out of the shadows with a bow in hand.

"I've broken into many noble's homes while they were sleeping. A royal shouldn't be that much different."

Regina's heart almost leaped out of her chest. She still didn't know what exactly pulled her to this man but she didn't care. Tink told her it would be true love. "Robin!" She ran over an hugged him. _Did I really just do that? We barely know each other- _Her thoughts broke when he actually hugged her back. When she pulled back, she was positive her face was bright red.

"Did you really think I would leave you all like that?" He said with a laugh. "Besides, you need my expertise." He went over and sat next to the fire. "So what's the plan?"

"We don't really have a plan..." Snow confessed.

"Well what are you trying to obtain?"

"My hat."

"Where is it?"

"King's bedroom."

"Ah, no problem."

"No problem?" Regina couldn't believe what this man was saying. She lived in a castle and found it hard just to get from her room to the garden at night. Was this man really **that **good?

"Yes. We climb up into a guard tower, sneak across the outer wall until we are under the king's window. Then we just climb up, take the hat, and be on our merry way." He paused for a moment. "King George's castle has a pretty simple design."

"How do you know that?" David asked, intrigued.

"Marian used to work as a maid for him. I broke in sometimes to see her."

"How is she? By the way." Snow cut in.

"She's doing great. We now have a son named Roland. He just has the most beautiful eyes; like his mother."

Well that really whacked Regina with a sense of Deja Vu. King Leopold would take any chance he could to go on and on about how beautiful his daughter is and how much she looks exactly like her mother. Now Robin was doing the same thing to her. She knew she could never have him but it still hurt.

"I'm sorry. I just can't believe I actually have a son now." He said with a huge smile.

"I understand. When I got my little girl, I wouldn't talk about anything else." Jefferson said and patted Robin on the back.

"Welcome to the club man."

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_**After getting what he needed from Rumpelstiltskin, Jefferson jumped at the chance to take part in the scam with the doctor. It would give him more money than he needed for now. After the task was done, his thoughts were proved true.**_

"_**Annabelle!" He couldn't wait to break the news to her. He skidded to a stop outside her window and called again. Still no answer. Something wasn't right.**_

"_**She's not here boy. She is no longer welcome. Neither are you." Annabelle's father called out to Jefferson from where he was busy chopping wood. Jefferson put aside his anger and crossed over to the man.**_

"_**Where is she?" He growled.**_

"_**Probably at the tavern." He didn't even look up a the younger man. Jefferson didn't waste any time and bolted off towards the inn.**_

_**He pushed open the door and burst inside. He looked around quickly and immediately spotted her carrying a tray with mugs of beer. **What? Why is she working at the tavern? This can't be right. _

"_**Annabelle?"**_

_**She looked up at him and put down the tray and dragged him to a closet all in one swift motion. Once inside, she burst into tears. The strong mask she always wore, fell away as she sobbed into Jefferson's shirt.**_

"_**Annabelle, what happened?" He grabbed her arms and forced her to look at him.**_

"_**My father disowned me." She said then burst into tears again.**_

"_**What?" he couldn't believe his own ears. The one respectable thing about the man was that he was always protective of his little girl and had an unfathomable love for her. One that apparently had gone away.**_

"_**What happened?"**_

_**She looked up into his eyes and reached up to hold his face. **_

"_**Jefferson, I'm pregnant."**_

_**Time seemed to have stopped as soon as she said those words. His heart race sped up and his breath hitched. A wide smile spread across his face as everything finally sunk in.**_

"_**For real?" He had to make sure what he was hearing was true.**_

"_**Yes. My father found out and he disowned me."**_

"_**Screw him. I got enough money to get us by for years."**_

_**Only then did Annabelle finally accept what happened. She let out a laugh and hugged him tightly. Jefferson only broke the hug to pull her into a deep kiss. She relaxed in his arms and they stayed like that until the need for air arose. **_

_**The two left the tavern that night and never went back...**_

**Let me know what you think!**

**I wanna remind you guys that this is only my second fan fic so if you see anything off please let me know.**


	11. And the Hat

Chapter 11: And the Hat

The group made their way across the castle grounds. Robin lead the way with Snow and Regina covering the group from behind. Once they got to the guard tower, Robin shot an arrow with a rope attached to start climbing up. Everything was going as planned. Henry would stay at the bottom of the rope to keep guard as the rest carried on. Once they got to the king's balcony, Snow and David would watch for any guards while the rest searched through the room.

"Come on where is it?!" Jefferson started to panic. He started going through everything and making a mess. Robin almost slapped him before stumbling upon the hats case.

"We got it!" Jefferson exclaimed and snatched the case from Robin's hands.

Everyone froze and looked towards the king's bed. If the hatter had woken the king then the whole plan would be thrown off. When they though they were in the clear, an item on top of the wardrobe that the hat was in, fell off and shattered. To the group, a simple glass figurine shattering sounded like a dozen explosions going off. In a split-second, Regina waved her hand and put a sleeping spell on the king.

"Hurry up, this won't last long-" Regina looked back at the lump in the bed. Whenever a spell was cast you always saw a purple barrier surround the victim for at least a few seconds; this was not the case.

"What is it?" Robin whispered as he ushered the hatter to the balcony.

Before Regina could answer, the bedroom door was kicked in and the King, the Prince, Jack, and a multiple guards burst into the room.

"Seize them!"

Robin and Snow immediately pulled out an arrow and started firing. David pulled out his sword charged the guards. Before he could strike though, another sword swung at him and barely missed his face. David reached up and felt the blood on his chin. _Well, that's gonna leave a scar. _When he turned around to face the new attacker, he was shocked to come face to face with himself. James mirrored the shock for a few seconds before his face twisted back into an angry expression as he lunged at David.

David wasn't an expert swordsman but he at least knew how to defend himself. He had spent multiple hours fighting against his father with sticks while he was pretending to be a knight on a quest to save the sheep princess. One thing he learned from those days was that he was always able to beat his father if he was relaxed and thought clearly. On other days, David would get frustrated and start swinging blindly, just like James was doing, and his father would just parry and dodge, just like David was doing now.

While Regina dealt with the remaining guards, Jack pounced on Robin and Snow. Unlike James, Jack didn't let her emotions get the best of her. In a few swift moves, she was able to disarm Robin and knock Snow off her feet.

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_**Annabelle was sitting alone in her humble cottage when she heard a knock on her door. She glanced over to make sure Grace was still asleep before opening the door. On her doorstep was a group of thugs wearing masks and covered in tattoos. She took one good look at the bandits before panic settled in.**_

"_**I'm sorry I think you have the wrong house."**_

_**Before she could close the door and bolt it, one of the men stuck is foot in the door way. The door burst open and knocked Annabelle on the ground. Grace immediately started crying and one of the bandits screamed at her to shut up. The other men started going through her entire house as she crawled over to grace. One of the men turned to her.**_

"_**WHERE THE HELL IS IT?!" **_

_**Annabelle was on the verge of tears herself.**_

"_**Where's what?!"**_

"_**THE HAT!"**_

_**She stopped breathing. The hat. Jefferson's hat. He hid it away somewhere after Grace was born. These men obviously don't look like the type to take excuses but she had to try.**_

"_**Its not here! He hid it somewhere! I don't know where it is; please just leave us alone!"**_

_**The men all looked at each other, then back at her. If looks could kill, she'd be a pile of ash by now. **_

"_**Well since you failed to deliver, we'll just have to find other means of payment." He turned to the other men. "Get them in the cart."**_

"_**What? What are you doing?!" She clung to Grace as tight as she could without crushing the child.**_

"_**Well since we can't give the buyer the hat, we'll just have to find something else to sell. That being your freedom."**_

"_**You're going to sell me as a slave?"**_

_**Just then, Jefferson burst into the room.**_

"_**Annabelle!" He darted over to her and wrapped his arms around her. He looked up at the thugs and tried to hide his fear.**_

"_**What do you want?!"**_

"_**Your hat. We know its powers and our buyer would like to use them."**_

"_**I don't have it!" He was lying of course but he was the only one who knew that. Annabelle looked up at him with confusion written all over her face.**_

"_**Well looks like we'll just have to continue with selling your wife and child. Then you can live with the mistake you made." All the men started laughing at him.**_

"_**What is I give you my money?"**_

_**They stopped and looked at him. **_

"_**How much?"**_

_**Jefferson got up and went over to a closet and pulled out a chest. He unlocked it and lifted up the top to reveal all the gold.**_

"_**Fine. Pick one." The men gestured to Annabelle and Grace.**_

"_**What?"**_

"_**This is enough for one."**_

"_**But this is all I have!" He shrieked. Tears started building up in his eyes as he thought about having to live without one of them.**_

"_**Well the buyer would pay us three times more than this. You're lucky its enough for one!"**_

"_**There has to be another way!"**_

"_**Well I could just kill you and take both of them."**_

_**All the men started laughing again. Grace started screaming and Annabelle became eerily calm.**_

"_**Jefferson. Give them the money."**_

_**Their eyes met and he realized what she was going to do. He went over to her and squeezed her shoulders.**_

"_**Annabelle. You know I can't live without you." Tears were flowing freely down his face but he no linger cared. She reached out and stroked his cheek.**_

"_**And I know neither of us would be able to live knowing that we sold off our own first born." He knew she was right but he didn't want to accept it.**_

"_**Have you made your choice?"**_

"_**Take me." Annabelle put Grace in Jefferson's arms and walked over to the thugs.**_

"_**Well then. Lets go!" The men cheered and lugged the chest to the carriage outside. One slammed shackles around Annabelle's wrists and pulled her outside. Jefferson could only watch as the love of his life was ripped away from him. All because of that damn hat. **_

_**Once they were out of view, he calmly put Grace back in her crib and went to his own room. He had chosen power over his own wife. He tried telling himself that if he gave up the hat then the power would be abused and bad things would happen; but it didn't help at all. Jefferson just curled up in his bed and let himself cry.**_

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Snow got up and fired another arrow at Jack, but the thing was cut in half just inches before it made contact. _She's a killing machine. How the hell are we gonna beat her? _ Snow pulled out a dagger and swiped at Jack, who dodged and knocked the blade out of her hand. The dagger flew threw the air and off the balcony. _So much for that. _Jack faked a right and swung at Snow's left. The princess barely made it out of the way and leaned in to tackle Jack. The woman easily rolled her off her, pulled out a knife, and plunged it into the young girl's stomach.

Snow howled in pain and tried pushing the woman off her but failed.

"So princess are you ready to die?" Jack said coldly and lifted the bloody knife out of her stomach and inched away from her heart. Snow grimaced in pain and closed her eyes but before Jack could do anything, Regina tackled her and Robin pulled Snow aside. He pulled some scraps of cloth out of his bag and pressed them to Snow's wound.

Regina had Jack pressed to the ground and was trying to tilt the knife in the woman's hand to her own throat. Suddenly, Jack kneed Regina in the gut and flipped her over.

"Nice try your majesty."

Regina summoned a fireball in her hand and grabbed hold of Jack's wrist. Jack yelped and jumped back, and held her burned forearm. Regina stood up kicked her in the side. Jack fell on the floor and reached over to grab her sword. Just then, a gust of wind interrupted everyone; they all looked over to see the source.

Jefferson had thrown his hat on the ground and not the portal was opening. At the chaos going on in the room, more guards appeared at the doorway.

"Everybody in!" Jefferson yelled. The entire group jumped through and landed with a thud on the marble floor inside the hat. Seconds later, James and Jack jumped through. The portal closed before anyone else managed to jump in.

→→→•←←←

Jefferson made a break for the portal that lead to Wonderland and the entire group followed his lead with James and Jack following behind. The group was immediately blinded by the light of the new world. Jefferson then led them down the brick road towards the Queen of Heart's territory. The duo stayed behind to get their bearings then headed down the path that would take them to the Red Queen's territory.

"Well we may have a problem." Jefferson confessed to the group.

"Besides the fact that we left my father behind and Snow got hurt, what else could of possibly gone wrong?" Regina snapped.

"Well the same number of people that go through the portal must come out."

"Well it seems like we'll have to find two more traveling companions." David sighed and wrapped his arm around the injured Snow.

"Wonderland is full of shady people. We already have one person in mind. Now we just need to find someone else worth the risk of taking back with us."

"Maybe the royal's can help us." Snow suggested.

Jefferson let out a sigh. "i haven't been here that often but I know that both queens have a reputation of being... unfair."

"What do you mean by that?" Robin chimed in.

"Well, do one thing to piss them off and its off with your head."

"Well this trip will definitely be fun." Regina growled.


	12. The Long Road Ahead

Chapter 12: The Long Road Ahead

As the group walked on in silence, they all kept their heads down. Except for Regina casually side glancing at Robin or Snow. Jefferson had offered to take them to the closest village to get proper treatment for the princess before visiting the queen. If Cora had made herself a name her like the dark one said, then the queen would probably be willing to help them get the old bat out of Wonderland. Regina's mother was never the most pleasant person in the world. The only people who actually liked her seemed to be Leopold and the late King Xavier. In fact, Leopold may have seemed a little too kind; which lead to Regina suspecting they knew each other before, no matter how many times her mother denied it.

She was taken out of her thoughts when Jefferson cleared his throat.

"Your Majesty, I think there's something you should know." He spoke quietly.

"What else is there?" She huffed.

"Well two things really. One, there are thieves all over the place that collect for the Caterpillar. If you get into trouble with them then your practically screwed. Second, You're gonna have to come up with a good reason to see the queen. You can't waltz in there declaring that your the queen yourself and you have a right to speak with her. As far as the Queen of Hearts is concerned, there is only one true queen; her. Anyone else has no authority; especially one from another world."

Regina really wanted to knock the hatter out but it wouldn't help their situation at all so she just brushed it off and vowed to get revenge for all the late warnings later.

"Then why don't we go to the Red Queen for help, instead?" She raised her eyebrow.

"The Red Queen doesn't even bother to listen to her people's complaints. The Queen of Hearts is a bit more understanding an fair... of course it's to gain the trust of her people so she can retain control over them." He added.

"I'll deal with it." She sighed and walked on.

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The group came across the nearest town and brought Snow in to see the doctor. Jefferson stayed with her while everyone else waited outside. Silver seemed to cover just about everything in the town except the ground. If the buildings weren't so run-down, the town might actually be a thing of beauty.

As everyone sat with their backs to the wall of the outside, a shady group of people passed by and went into the tavern across from the office.

"Who were those guys?" David whispered.

"I don't know. Jefferson might."

"I think I'm gonna check that out." Robin said then took off.

"Great." Regina went over to back up Robin and David followed.

The two stood in the back while Robin went off to speak with the gang.

"So gentlemen, what brings you here?" Robin took a seat at the far end of the table.

"After business we like to... relax." One of the men said. Robin glanced at him then the man at the head of the table. Cold blue eyes, short dark brown hair, with a closed red-brown leather vest on top of a red shirt, and black pants with dark brown boots rested upon the table. He was better dressed than the rest of the men and seemed to be the leader.

"And what business would that be?"

"Royal business." The leader cut in.

This caused Robin to smirk. This man was either a royal guard or some type of prince; with either choice he obviously wasn't doing a job he was supposed to be doing. He looked like a thug and probably is one when you exclude his royal status.

"Would you mind me asking why someone doing royal business would come to a seedy tavern like this?"

Now it was the man's turn to smirk. "Well who's to say we don't have a little business going on here?"

After a moment of silence the man excused himself and went off into another room. Robin watched him go then turned back to the other men.

"Well, good day gentlemen."

"Wait. You're not from around here."

Robin turned to face the man that approached him.

"Where ye from?"

"Sherwood Forest."

The men all looked around at each other. No one obviously knew where that was so Robin told them.

"In another world; the Enchanted Forest."

The men seemed to groan in understanding and carry on with their business. All except for one. One who had been watching the entire time.

The knave stood up and followed Robin back to his companions. Before Regina could question the man, he charged at Robin and tackled him to the floor. He started swinging away at Robin's face with all the force he could muster. _It's all his fault. Anastasia left me because he never told me about the consequences. He just let me go off and ruin my life. _Regina and David tried pulling the man up but he just shrugged them off.

"Will!" The leader came back into the main room and ran straight to the commotion. With one swift move he pulled Will up and out the door. Once outside, he slammed the younger man into the side of the wall.

"What the hell were you thinking?!"

"He's the man I told you about! Robin Hood the thief! He said there were consequences to taking the looking glass but he never told me! He knew I would suffer but he did nothing!" The knave was going ballistic now. The older man knew how much Anastasia meant to Will; hell that was why he took such a liking to him in the first place, but he couldn't go around maiming people for his mistakes.

"Listen, Will, I agree that he should of told you but it was probably too hard for him. He thought he could trust you and when you went off on your own he decided to just let you stay on your own."

"What makes you think it was too hard-"

"He was captured by the dark one and almost skinned alive. Then his wife was killed."

"How do-"

"It doesn't matter. Magic always comes with a price. Most of the time it's someone's pure heart getting corrupted, like Anastasia, other times you have to give something up."

"That's why you hate using magic?"

"Among other things." He let Will go and made a move towards his horse. "Now let's get out of here."

Meanwhile, David went to push back the crowd that was forming while Regina went to help Robin up. She felt like she was in daze. She heard his voice; he was among the crowd during the fight. She remembered looking for him but after she heard his voice everything just seemed to go to black. _He isn't in Wonderland, he can't be in Wonderland. I left him behind..._

"Regina?" Robin was wiping the blood off his face as he looked to her with worried eyes. She faked a smile.

"I'm fine." When in truth she was far from fine. She was completely numb and all the voices around her seemed to be distorted. She needed to feel again but she didn't know how. She wanted to go look for him; see if he actually was there. Much to her own surprise, before she could do anything, her body responded in another way. She grabbed Robin's shirt and yanked on it; pulling him down to her own height. She quickly pressed her lips onto his and everything started to clear up. The original sound of the tavern seemed to fall back into place and a warm tingle crept up into her stomach. She was again surprised when he tried to deepen the kiss.

She broke the kiss and looked up into his eyes for an explanation. She saw immense sadness in them and immediately knew.

"Robin. What happened to Marian? I thought you said she was okay."

"Wraith... I didn't want to tell anyone... I didn't want your pity when there was a job at hand." He muttered. "I'm sorry..."

She honestly didn't know what to say so she just pulled him into a hug. They broke when David came back.

"She should go check on Snow." Robin quickly said and headed for the door.

"Good news. I'm going to live." Snow happily announced as she exited the office. David went right up to her and attached his lips to hers; of course. Regina and Robin blushed and looked away. Jefferson just started whistling awkwardly. After some time he cleared his throat and they separated.

"Sorry." Snow blushed.

"So... um... the queen's castle?" David asked shyly.

"Yep." Jefferson answered and started down the road. As they walked, Robin reached down and laced his fingers with Regina's. _This is going to be one long trip..._

→→→•←←←

"And you're sure it's her?"

"You of all people should know I could spot her from a mile away."

"Yes. Well then tell the guards. As soon as she gets here, I want her brought here directly."

"Yes, your majesty." He bowed and went off to share the orders. Cora walked out to her balcony and smiled at the vast land that lie ahead of her. Regina was out there somewhere coming to find her without knowing it was actually her. Cora smiled mischievously. _So the little imp was right after all. _

_Well this is going to be one hell of a family reunion._


	13. The Queen of Hearts

Chapter 13: The Queen of Hearts

Cora paced her study. Things were happening a bit faster than they were supposed to. Rumpelstiltskin had told her that Regina would eventually come to her to request her service. A dark force was jumping around destroying worlds to build them back up to fit their own desires. If her home world was destroyed she'd have Anastasia to care for Wonderland; the next on the list.

She had personally trained a few people as possible candidates to accompany her into the Enchanted Forest. Much to her surprise the damn stable boy proven to be the best choice. She wanted to keep him as far away from her daughter as possible but the remaining voice of reason told her that if she didn't want thousands of people to die, the two would have to get well acquainted again. She did have to admit that a fondness grew for him over the years. She did chose to make him the prince after all; just in case something ever happened to her.

"Cora, pacing isn't going to delay the inevitable." He said walking in.

"No, but it helps me think." She huffed. He grabbed her wrist and walked her over to the couch. Once they sat down, she then started fidgeting with her hands.

"Cora, you've known about this for five years. You're just now getting nervous?"

She glared at him. "Well I didn't know it was stupid to be nervous about going on a mission that if we fail, could possibly lead to everyone we know dying!"

"Are you sure you're not just nervous about seeing Regina again?"

"What?!" She stood up and eyed him.

"Cora, the last time you saw her, she pushed you through a mirror to get you out of her life. Now you two are being forced back together; you can't just ignore what happened. You're scared of finding out that she still hates you and was better off without you. You've been telling her that mother knows best since she started walking and you're scared to be proven wrong."

"What do you think I am some kind of heartless monster?!"

The silence seemed to have answered that question.

"Cora, why did you even rip your heart out?"

"Because I didn't want to feel the pain of not being with Rumple while I was with Henry."

"You dated the crocodile dude?" He asked, perplexed with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"Well we only- Wait! We're getting off topic."

"Right, you're scared of Regina."

Words could not express how much she wanted to hit him right now. Alas, he was the only one who would be able to help. She sat back down next to him and grabbed his shoulders.

"I want to show that I can change for her."

Well that really seemed to throw him off guard.

"Well you can start by putting your heart back in." He offered.

"Not with everything going on; it's too dangerous."

"Then try to get along with her."

"How?"_ Wow did I really just beg the stable boy for help?_

"Stay on her comfortable side first. Do as she says, give her space, politely agree or disagree, and when she starts to feel comfortable, explain yourself to her."

"Do you really think that will help?" She had desperation written all over her.

"Yes. Regina really loves you. All she ever wanted to do was make you proud."

Cora looked at him, searching for any emotion but she wasn't lucky. One of the first things she taught him was to hide his emotions but she at least thought something would slip when talking about his true love. Well that was if he still had feelings for her. The first few times she showed him what exactly went on in Regina's new life, he was always either pissed or extremely sad. After a while it seems as if he just stopped caring.

"Well of course I've been 'dead' so I don't know if she still feels that way."

Cora chuckled at that and gave him a playful shove. "Don't push me... Thanks." Cora said and gave him a brief hug.

"No problem." He gave her a reassuring smile and left. _Jeez, no wonder Regina fell for him._

→→→•←←←

_**Victor was just about ready to leave his lab when a visitor popped in.**_

"_**Who are you?" He asked the man. This stranger was definitely strange. He had an odd color to him and carried a hat at his side as if it was a weapon.**_

"_**Jefferson's the name." He held out his hand for a shake but didn't get one. "I came to make a deal."**_

"_**What deal?"**_

"_**There is a woman named Regina who seeks your service. She wants you to bring back her fiance and will even give you a heart."**_

"_**Why do I feel like its more complicated than that?"**_

"_**Well.. it is. You see your going to bring him back alright. Just not for Regina."**_

_**The doctor furrowed his eyebrows.**_

"_**Regina will give you a heart. You take it and fake the expiration; leave her devastated. Then you take my employer's provided heart and use it to successfully bring him back."**_

"_**But won't Regina find out if the body doesn't return?"**_

"_**We're providing a replacement. Don't worry."**_

_**Victor thought about it for a moment.**_

"_**What's in it for me?"**_

"_**The heart Regina provides for you. You can bring your brother back."**_

_**His face grew serious. "How did-"**_

"_**Do we have a deal?" Jefferson interrupted.**_

"_**Yes... I believe we do."**_

_**Jefferson smirked and held his hand back out. This time the doctor shook it.**_

"_**Excellent."**_

→→→•←←←

Cora had saved the ashes of Daniel's crushed heart and with the waters of Lake Nostos, she was able to return it to a working condition. When Daniel had asked her why, she said a sudden voice in her head had told her to keep them. She probably wouldn't find out that it was Rumpelstiltskin who told her but it didn't really matter. She brought him back because she was new in the land and needed someone she could trust to do her dirty work.

Daniel was laying in the hay at the stables when the news broke throughout the castle. Regina was less than a day away. He thought about just staying in the stables and letting the whole thing ride out but if Cora want him to go with her then he'd have to try and talk to her. He sighed as he got up and brushed the hay off him. He could already see how it was gonna go. She was going to yell at him for not letting her know, scream at him because he changed so much, then go off about why he was working for her mother. Then he'd have to go and point out that she learned dark magic herself, she plotted against the king, plus she had multiple people executed behind the king's back. Of course she wouldn't listen to him.

Cora was calmer now, anxious actually. She had wanted to make things better with Regina after hearing everyone could possibly die soon.

"Your Majesty?"

She spun around and faced her caller.

"What do you want stable boy?" She didn't have time for him with all the preparations she was making.

"Regina will be here in one day's time."

Her heart would of leaped out of her chest if it was still in there.

"Wonderful news. I want you to go retrieve my heart for me."

He furrowed his brows and frowned. "Why?"

"I don't want to leave my heart where anyone can get it."

"Well I wouldn't exactly say it's where anyone can get it."

"I know but it would be easier if I had my heart with me in the other world."

Daniel nodded and headed back to the stables to get his horse. Of course he knew Cora was just trying to get rid of him. Cora's new vault was a day away.

→→→•←←←

_**Jefferson motioned for the man to follow him. Once they were right outside the queen's chambers, they stopped.**_

"_**Stay here." And he went in.**_

"_**So?"**_

"_**Success."**_

_**A wide smile grew on Cora's face. "How did Regina take it?"**_

"_**You should of seen the tears."**_

"_**Oh don't worry dear, I've seen the aftermath. Where is he?"**_

_**Jefferson turned back to the door and opened it. He motioned for the man to come in and he closed the door behind him. Once he saw Cora, his features grew dark.**_

"_**Welcome to Wonderland, stable boy." **_

"_**Cora."**_

"_**Well done Jefferson. My adviser has your gold; go speak with him."**_

_**Jefferson left and Cora returned her gaze to Daniel, who never took his eyes off her.**_

"_**How much do you remember?"**_

"_**We were in the stables, you wanted to talk to me, you ripped out my heart then it went black." He paused then asked the question that bugged him, "did I-" **_

"_**Yes."**_

_**Silence filled the room as he took in the fact that he was back from the dead.**_

"_**How?"**_

"_**I restored your heart, a doctor put it back in and started it back up."**_

_**He nodded and changed the topic.**_

"_**Regina?"**_

"_**She's back in the Enchanted Forest."**_

"_**With the king?"**_

"_**Yes."**_

_**He nodded again but more slowly.**_

"_**Please, sit. I have so much to tell you."**_

_**Well it turned out Cora had brought him back and him to do her dirty work. In exchange, she would get him back up on his feet. She taught him all the magic she knew and hired a master swordsman to train him. Once she stumbled upon Will Scarlet, she knew the two would bond nicely. Eventually, the two of them trained with each other. Of course, Daniel always beat him; the stable didn't really have anything else to do, aside from Cora's personal lessons, but train with the sword.**_

_**After a while, he asked about Regina again. Cora knew what she had to do, even if she didn't like it. She had to break him. **Love is weakness after all. **One night she took him to her room and used her looking glass to show Regina's recent activities.**_

_**Throughout the course, the two watched the king and Regina "try for an heir," see her cry herself to sleep, hire someone to make sure a certain noble meets with an accident and collect something from him, then she gave the item to the dark one and they went over their recent lesson. Without a word, Daniel got up and left. **_

_**The two met every once a week to watch the recent events. Regina just kept getting worse while all emotion was drain from Daniel. He would smile sometimes but Cora could tell they were fake; they all were. Every smile, every hug, every compliment, every tear, and every woman he ever spent time with; he didn't love. He started focusing more on his job and often he would sneak away to the tavern with Will and anyone else who wanted to get away. He only really cared for Cora, Will, and the horses in the stables.**_

→→→•←←←

Cora spent the rest of her time reading about genies. When Anastasia told her about the freed genie that was running around with that tramp, Alice, she couldn't help but laugh. She promised the Red Queen some Intel that could help with her situation. She only looked up when she heard the guard knocking.

"What is it?"

"Your visitors are here."

Cora closed the book and put it away. She dusted herself off ans took a deep breath.

"Let them in."

→→→•←←←

"_**I believe it is time to teach you my favorite move."**_

"_**You want me to rip out someone's heart?"**_

_**Cora snapped her fingers and a wolf appeared. Daniel immediately immobilized it and Cora smiled.**_

"_**Kill it."**_

_**Daniel hesitated for a bit. He knew what the wolf would feel since he had gone through it himself. He glanced over at Cora who nodded her head and gave him a thumbs up. He rolled his eyes and walked over to the beast. **_

"_**I'm sorry." He whispered and plunged his hand into the wolf's chest. He pulled the thing out and started to squeeze it. The wolf dropped and Cora squealed with delight. He let the dust slide out of his hands.**_

"_**You're a natural!" She said proudly. She was always proud when she gave someone power; seeing them use the gift she loves. She'll never have to know the wolf heart wasn't the first one he had ripped out.**_

**So the next chapter is the big reunion. If there is any back stories you want in the story, leave a comment.**


	14. Mom?

Chapter 14: Mom?

Regina honestly didn't know what to expect when she walked in the room. It felt as if her entire body just shut down. She stopped walking, stopped breathing, and didn't even blink. The numbness returned and it didn't go unnoticed this time.

"Regina?" Snow whispered. It occurred to Regina that Snow didn't exactly have the best memories of Cora either. Regina kept staring at the old woman when she felt Snow reach down and grab her hand.

_I knew I was going to see her again, we were visiting the queen to get information on her, but I didn't know she WAS the queen. _

"Sweetheart, you look a bit pale.." Cora faked concern and strolled over to her daughter. Her words caused everyone to give Regina a look of pure shock with their mouths hanging open and their brows furrowed and their head tilted just a bit.

"Don't. Call me. That." She stated in the strongest voice she could muster. This just made Cora laugh.

"Oh dear, I can call you whatever I want." She went back over to her couch and took a seat. "So, what's the reason for my daughter and granddaughter miraculously showing up on my front step with three other men?" She knew the reason but was curious to see if they would actually tell her.

"Not yet."

_So she doesn't trust me._

"Not until you tell me how you became queen."

Cora smiled and motioned around the room.

"You may want to take a seat."

→→→•←←←

_**Is she really doing this? Cora couldn't help but think as soon as she saw Regina try to push her. Now the younger woman stood across from Cora, glaring at her as the older woman held her back with magic. Cora was staring at her intently, trying to figure out where this rage came from. For a split-second, Regina's eyes flickered back to the mirror behind Cora. Before Cora could process it, Regina broke her magical bonds and lunged at her mother. Cora quickly grabbed the sides of the mirror, trying to prevent the invisible hands from pulling her in but she knew she wouldn't be able to. She flashed Regina a look of hurt before the hands tugged at her violently and she lost her grip. **How could she do this to me? All her life all I ever did was help her. After all the deals I made, after all the years I watched over her, how could she do this to ME? _

_**It felt as if she was falling forever. Blue lights danced before her eyes as she continued to plummet down the vortex. She closed her eyes and let the looking glass do its job. Before she knew it, she hit the ground with a solid thud. Her entire body ached from the fall but she tried to get up to look around. The only things in sight were tall stalks of grass, a yellow brick road, a few giant mushrooms, and a blue, shelled creature that was curled up on one of the mushrooms. The creature shifted and spun its body around to get a good look at Cora. It took a puff of its pipe and adjusted his glasses before asking: "Who are you?" She took a good look at him before starting off down the road.**_

"_**Welcome to Wonderland!" She heard the creature say behind her. She rolled her eyes and carried on.**_

_**Eventually she found herself walking into a small little town. She went to the best dressed person and asked one simple question.**_

"_**How do I leave this place?" **_

_**The man looked at her like she had two heads and pulled the cigar, that was drooping in his mouth, out. **_

"_**No one leaves Wonderland without the king's permission. That's if ye have a way out. Usually people come here by a looking glass, magic bean, or even glass slippers. Your best bet is a looking glass." He put the cigar back in his mouth and carried on with his business. Cora still had questions but she went to a man near the roads instead.**_

"_**How do I get to the King's palace?"**_

_**He looked up at her and nodded his head to the road that forked left. She silently thanked him and went on down the road.**_

→→→•←←←

_**Once she got to the palace, she stormed through the halls to get to the throne room. Any guard that got in her way was immediately thrown to the side with her magic. The huge, red and gold double doors flew open and Cora burst in. The king quickly stood and ordered his guards to seize her but she just immobilized them. **_

"_**What is you want?" He half shouted.**_

"_**I need to get back to the Enchanted Forest. I don't want to miss my daughter's big day." She said gravely.**_

"_**I can't help you with that. Please! People who come to wonderland use one-way transportation. There are no beans here, the glass slippers are in another world and the the last looking glass was shattered years ago. The only one who can travel freely is the hatter."**_

_**Cora closed the distance between them and leaned her face in so it was only inches away from the king's.**_

"_**Then you are of no use to me." She whispered and plunged her hand into the kings chest. She pulled out his still beating heart and faced the guards. She flicked the wrist of her free hand and the necks of the men broke instantly. As their lifeless bodies fell, she turned back to the king who watched in horror. Cora smiled as she squeezed the life out of the king.**_

→→→•←←←

The group sat in silence as Cora finished her story. She could see the effect she had on them just by looking at their eyes. It was Regina who finally spoke up.

"So, you haven't changed at all..."

Cora looked at her daughter and saw all the damage she had cause her over the years, clearly expressed on her face.

"I'm trying to." She said quietly.

Silence washed over the group again until it was Snow's turn to break it.

"A great evil is coming to the Enchanted Forest and Rumpelstiltskin prophesied you would be among the people that stopped it."

"When is this evil coming?"

"Ten and a half months." Regina answered.

"Well we have plenty of time!" Cora exclaimed and stood up. She decided to explain when she saw the confused look on her guests' faces.

"We you guys aren't exactly the best fighters in the world. While you're here you might as well get a little training in."

"You think we could get some sleep first?" David asked and added a yawn.

"Very well." Cora said with a sigh. She clapped her hands and two guards appeared. "Show the guests to their rooms."

The guards nodded and motioned for the group to follow them. Jefferson stayed back for a second.

"So where's our mutual friend?"

"Out retrieving something for me." She said with a mischievous smile.

"How are you going to tell Regina?"

"I'm not." She thought for a bit then added. "I'll let them find each other first."

Jefferson smiled as if he had just heard the latest gossip. He bowed to Cora and left the room to rejoin the group.

→→→•←←←

_**The maid immediately started screaming as soon as she walked in the throne room to see all the dead bodies. All the servants started piling in and once they soaked in what happened they all bowed to Cora. Much to Cora's delight she found out that the king had no next of kin and since she had killed him, the job went over to her.**_

_**After Cora got settled in, she went over to her mirror to try and spy on Regina. The young girl was getting out of her wedding dress and into her nightgown; she was also shaking badly. She completely froze when she heard a knock on her door. **_

"_**Who is it?" **_

"_**The only person allowed to come here at this time." Leopold answered from behind the door.**_

_**It seemed as if Regina stopped breathing and her body went white like a ghost. That was when it hit Cora; Leopold came to consolidate the marriage. As soon as Regina opened the door Cora wiped the image away from the mirror and went over to the balcony to look over her new kingdom. She felt a twinge of guilt in her stomach that she couldn't push away no matter how hard she tried. **_

_**Regina was stuck in that castle, a habitat she was nowhere near familiar with, being the wife of a man old enough to be her grandfather and the mother of a child only a few years younger than herself. She at least had her father there but Cora had no one to help her with her new adjustments; no one she could trust. Maybe if she contacted his hatter, she could swipe someone from the Enchanted Forest, someone who would die to please her, someone who had something to lose, someone who had a fire in their eyes.**_

_**Just then, as if the answer her dilemma, the mirror changed the image it was reflecting. It was now showing Regina walking down a long staircase leading to a secluded room. She opened the double doors to reveal none other than the dead stable boy in a glass coffin. She started talking to the body, telling it everything that had recently happened. One thing that caught Cora's attention was the mentioning of Rumpelstiltskin, who apparently her daughter was going to apprentice. **_

_**That night showed Cora the future full of darkness for her daughter and lead her back to someone who just may be Cora's best apprentice yet with a little help from the doctor that Cora had heard about. The one servant who was incredibly loyal and who had stood up to Cora when it came down to Regina's happiness. With the way her daughter was heading, it would be easy to break the stable boy.**_

→→→•←←←

Regina awoke with a start. Being near her mother had caused her to dream about that fateful day in the stables again. She looked down at the young princess who was curled up beside her. Regina felt like she could strangle the princess right now but she also felt sorry for her. She hated getting these mixed feelings all the time because she knew they would lead her down one of two completely different paths that Regina still couldn't decide what was the better one. She knew she couldn't forgive Snow but she also couldn't bring herself to kill her and get revenge on something that was an accident. Regina pushed the thoughts out of her head and got up. There was only one person who could keep her mind off of the troubled princess.

She open the door to Robin's room to find that he was still awake.

"Couldn't sleep?" She pulled him from his thoughts.

"Can't help but think about Marian."

"Well I guess our lost loved ones are on both of our minds tonight."

Robin stopped staring at the fire in front of him to turn his gaze to Regina.

"Maybe I can help take him off your mind." She said and patted the space next to him.

After she took a seat he continued. "I don't know why but ever since I met you I've had a certain attraction to you."

"I may be able to help you understand that." She replied quietly.

"Oh?"

"One night, a fairy came to me and told me she'd help me find my true love. At first I thought she was crazy because my true love had died but she told me that there was always someone else. She lead me to this tavern and showed me the man. I never saw his face but I did she his tattoo." She reached down and grabbed Robin's wrist and lifted his sleeve to reveal the lion tattoo.

"Me?"

"I was supposed to go in and talk to you but I lost my nerve and ran. Because of that you moved on and married Marian who was your second choice."

After a few seconds, Robin replied by kissing her on the cheek.

"I'd love to give us a try but we should take it slowly. Marian won't be easy to get over."

"They never are." After a bit she spoke up again. "Do you mind if I stay with you tonight?"

"Not at all." As soon as he wrapped his arm around her, She knew she wouldn't be having anymore nightmares.

→→→•←←←

The woman walked straight through the tavern owned by the caterpillar. Once she entered the back room, she was shocked to see the creature right in front of her; she didn't show it of course.

"Why hello." The creature said in a slow, deep voice.

"I'm looking for my cousin you may know him."

"Name?" He said and released a puff of smoke.

"Will Scarlet."

"Ah, young Will. I know exactly where he is." After another puff he spoke again. "There's just one thing, who are you?"

"My name is Jack."


	15. The Giant-slayer

Chapter 15: The Giant-slayer

The caterpillar had eyes everywhere so only he'd know that Will was traveling with another man to a place called Hollow-Heart Cave just on the edge of the Queen of Heart's territory. The caterpillar gave her a detailed map with the quickest route marked on it; for a large sum of money of course. She had dropped James off to deal with the Red Queen while she went of to get her cousin.

The forest she was walking in, had immensely large trees and the ground seemed to sink at every step she took. However, when she took in a deep breath and the smell of pine flooded her nose, she felt right at home and all her thoughts were washed away. She knew she made the right choice to leave James behind. She liked the guy but she would never bring him into her natural habitat and never show him her true self. She would never drop her act on anyone; not anyone alive that is.

→→→•←←←

"This place is amazing!" Regina exclaimed. She turned back to Robin and gave him a tender hug which he replied to by wrapping his arms around her and putting his head on top of hers. He had brought her out to a place he heard of from Jefferson and when she asked why he shrugged and told her "Why not?"

She pulled away from him to look him in the eyes.

"Robin, why did you really bring me here?"

"To get my mind off Marian."

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked and led them over to the blanket Robin laid out.

"All she ever wanted was to have a family and right when she finally became a mother, a wraith took her from me." He collapsed on the ground and covered his face with his hands. Regina simply sat next to him and looked out, towards the view. After a moment of silence, Robin sat back up and held Regina's hand as he looked into her deep, brown eyes.

"This trip is about you though."

And for once in a long time, she felt the world fall away.

→→→•←←←

"_**Hurry up, Jack!" Jill squealed at her sister who was falling behind. **_

"_**I'm trying!" The six year-old called back.**_

_**The two girls were sprinting back to their little hut buried deep in the forest after their parents had sent them out to gather berries.**_

_**Jill was a bit taller than Jack but Jack had quicker reflexes so whenever they would get into fights it would be evened out. The two were identical twins but father always asked Jill to help him with the big jobs and mother still babied Jack even though she was born just a mere minute after her sister. **_

_**As the two came into the clearing their house was in, they both stopped. No one was around and the smoke usually coming out of the chimney was no where to be seen. The two walked towards the hut cautiously.**_

"_**Hello? Mama? Papa?" Jill half-whispered. She looked back at Jack and stepped into the house. Their parents were sitting at a table filled with visitors of the nearby village. An old woman with a younger girl in red clinging to the skirt of her dress came up to the girls.**_

"_**You two may want to go to your rooms or back outside."**_

_**When the girls remained frozen the old woman then added, "Red, why don't you go with them?"**_

_**The young girl looked up to her grandmother and nodded. She then grabbed Jack and Jill's hand and pulled them outside. Only when Granny gave the all clear sign did the group start back up their conversation.**_

"_**Robert, you have to listen to me!"**_

"_**No! I'm not leaving my family cottage. If wolves want to come mess with us, then let them. I can handle a couple of dogs."**_

"_**They're not any kind of regular beast." Granny stated.**_

"_**Well I guess that'll even out the playing fields." He stood up and excused himself.**_

"_**So what's going on in there?" Jack asked the little girl.**_

"_**Um... I think there's... a bad doggy going around and eating everyone." Red said as if there was nothing wrong with it. "So what do you wanna play?"**_

_**Jill was curious but decided to ask about it later. "how old are you?"**_

"_**um, like, three." She replied making her r's sound like w's while holding up two fingers.**_

"_**You wanna play hide-and-seek?" Jack asked excitedly.**_

_**After Red counted to ten, after some trouble, she went on searching for the twins. Jack waited patiently under the low branches of a far off bush. As she lie in wait, she heard a low growl come from the right. That was also when she noticed the sky getting dark. Her fear started to over-whelm her and she got up from her hiding place. She let out a high pitched scream when she backed up right into Red.**_

"_**Found you!" The younger girl squealed.**_

_**Jack let out a sigh of relief and followed Red back to her sister. She looked back on a sudden feeling and saw something similar to a wolf watching her.**_

"_**Red! Do you see that?"**_

_**Red stopped to turn around and look for the thing her friend was pointing at but saw nothing. **_

"_**See what?" She was getting frustrated, thinking Jack was playing tricks on her.**_

"_**There was a wolf!"**_

"_**No there wasn't! Let's go, I wanna get by to my Granny." Red shouted and tugged on Jack's hand.**_

_**When the three got back, they saw that everyone left except Granny and the girl's parents.**_

"_**Come on Red, you got to get to bed."**_

_**Red waved bye to her friends and followed her grandmother.**_

→→→•←←←

Now, twelve years later, Jack arrives at the spot marked on the map.

"Well this should be fun." She started down the path leading her into the mouth of the cave as she pulled out the sword with her name engraved on it.

The cave was completely dark except for a few spots of light breaking in from the ceiling. She snatched a lamp conveniently placed near the opening of the cave and lit it.

Farther along in the cave, Daniel and Will continued the trek to Cora's heart.

"Can we take a break?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Will, its not that far. We'll take a break when we get there."

"Dan, you know exactly what guards the box."

"Yes, and it will tire us out to fight it. Therefore we will have a rest after the beast is dead."

"But-"

"No more discussion."

Will let out a deep sigh, and then another, and another. _I swear he's a little kid at times. _

"One minute."

"Yay!" Will let himself fall onto the hard rock and stretched out his arms. Daniel knew he made the right choice to convince Will to put his heart back in otherwise the boy wouldn't be able to enjoy the simple pleasures of life to the fullest extent. Daniel took a seat next to Will and could of swore he heard something approaching. Maybe he was just paranoid.

Jack continued down the path and made sure not to make a sound. However, as she was scaling a wall instead of navigating a ditch full of spikes, one of the rocks slipped under her weight and went crashing down below. Jack quickened her pace and watched out for any other weak spots.

Regina doesn't know exactly how it happened, but at one minute they were talking and the next, they were making out. _So much for Marian... _Although she did have to admit he was a good kisser.

Daniel and Will continued on down the path and right when they opened the doors that lead to the vault, they almost got their faces burned off. Both men instantly ducked and pulled out their swords. Daniel rolled to the right and Will to the left of the jabberwocky.

"How the hell did Cora even find this thing?!" Will shouted as he hid behind a boulder.

"She didn't find it she made it!" Daniel rolled under a fireball and attempted to slash at the beast. He merely nicked it and had only a second to dart away before the thing would crush him. While the beast focused on Daniel, Will tried to attack from behind. He jumped over the tail and swiped at one of the hind legs. The beast let out a deep roar and spit a round of fire at both the men. Will barely moved out of the way in time and felt the immense heat against his face.

As more fire was sent Will's way, Daniel used all the strength he had and plunged his sword straight into the beast's back. It roared again and slammed Daniel against the wall with it's tail. The air got knocked out of him instantly and it took him a minute to get back up. The dragon turned back towards him and released more fire. Daniel managed to get out of the way but not entirely. The flames engulfed his forearm and he quickly put them out and grunted with pain.

"Fuck this."

Daniel placed an immobilization spell on the dragon with his good arm. _If only I knew how to heal._

"Hurry up and kill it, I can't hold it for long!"

Will quickly bolted up the jabberwocky's back and with a forceful swing of his sword, he decapitated the beast. He jumped off the back as the body landed with a solid thud.

"You alright?" He breathed.

"Yeah, just a little burn."

Before another word was said, the two turned their heads to the sound of clapping.

"Well done Will; Prince." She said and nodded to the two.

"Jack, wha-... What are you doing here?!"

"Easy man, I came with the twits with the hat."

"**Those **guys? Why?"

"To find you. Something bad is coming to the Enchanted Forest. If we stop it we'll be heroes." Jack said excitedly.

"No. I'm not leaving."

"But Will-"

"Leave Jack."

"You're seriously not going because of that bitch Anastasia?"

A whole new kind of anger erupted inside of Will.

"DON'T YOU DARE CALL HER THAT!"

"Will."

"Stay out of this." Jack hissed.

"Listen lady, Will obviously doesn't want to go with you so shove off."

Jack's eye twitched and before she knew it she flung her sword at Daniel, Will leaping in front of it to save his unsuspecting friend's life. As soon as the sword left Jack's fingers she knew she really messed up. _What have I just done? _Will's body fell heavily to the floor and Daniel immediately fell to his side. Jack tried to help but Daniel just screamed at her.

"Stay away from him!"

"I didn't mean for him to get hurt. Please, he's the only family I have left."

→→→•←←←

_**Jack woke up in the middle of the night to a strange sound from her window.**_

"_**Jill." She tried waking her sister but she just shrugged her off. Jack went over to the window and opened it. When she saw the two wolves watching her from afar, she let out a terrified scream. Her parents rushed into her room and Jill sat up in bed.**_

"_**Wolves." Jack said and pointed out the window.**_

_**Her father looked out the window and and quickly pulled it shut. **_

"_**Listen to me girls. You need to stay here with your mother while I go deal with this. NO ONE leaves until I say so ok?"**_

"_**Okay."**_

_**Their father ran out and their mother pulled them both into a hug. They waited for what seemed like hours.**_

"_**Alright girls; Stay here. I'm going to check on your father, I'll be right back." Her voice was shaking and the girls were visibly upset. Their mother kissed their heads and closed the door behind her as she left for good.**_

"_**We need to get out." Jill stated.**_

"_**No. Mama said to stay."**_

"_**If we stay we'll get eaten."**_

_**Jack thought about the consequences of staying or leaving. Jill started opening the window and sat on the windowsill.**_

"_**Let's go."**_

"_**I don't wanna."**_

_**Just then the two kids heard the dying scream of their mother. Jack started crying as Jill froze. Both their hearts beating too fast for their little bodies.**_

"_**Jack." Her sister was on the verge of tears and her voice as shaky. Jack nodded her head and climbed up and out the window. The girls only saw a small pool of blood from afar before they started running for their lives.**_

"_**Come on Jack!" Jill screamed.**_

_**With tears still flowing from her eyes, Jack ran as fast as she could but she still couldn't keep up with her sister.**_

"_**Where almo-"**_

_**Jack stopped suddenly before she fell off the cliff in front of her. Her sister was no longer in sight.**_

"_**Jill?"**_

_**She started climbing down the rocks as more sobs shook her entire body. **_

_**As she reached the bottom, she started searching frantically for any signs of her sister. She saw the same blue coat her sister wore and dashed towards it.**_

"_**Jill!"**_

_**The little girl froze. Her sister lay on her side looking endlessly to the forest in front of her with a thick pool of blood forming around her head.**_

"_**Jill?"**_

_**Jack approached her twin's body and knelt down. She tried shaking her sister awake but she just remained motionless with her unblinking eyes staring forward. Jack lost it all at that point as she sobbed over her sister's dead body. Everyone she cared about was suddenly ripped away from her and she couldn't do anything to stop it. **_

_**Before she knew it, Jack felt hands wrap around her waist. Her entire body stiffened as the hands pulled her close.**_

"_**Shh Child, it's okay."**_

_**Jack had no idea who this woman was but she reminded her of her own mother. The woman kept speaking softly and soothing the young girl until she stopped crying.**_

"_**Come now child, let's get you to a shelter."**_

"_**But my family-"**_

"_**Is there anyone else you know?"**_

_**Jack thought hard about that one. She had heard her parents talk about a distant cousin they had but they never actually met them.**_

"_**I have a cousin named Will."**_

"_**Where is he?"**_

_**Jack simply shrugged her shoulders. The woman let out a deep sigh and stood up and took the girl's hand.**_

"_**How 'bout I take you to a friend's house?"**_

_**Jack nodded.**_

_**The woman walked with Jack and at times, carried her. Eventually, they came across a cottage in a nearby village. She set Jack down and brushed the hair out of her eyes. She gave the young girl a reassuring smile.**_

"**_Go tell the woman that lives there that your family was attacked and you need a place to stay at the moment. We may never see each other again but I'm glad I met you __Jacqueline."_**

_**The young girl hugged the woman and couldn't help but wonder if she had been a mother at some point considering how great she was at it. Jack started down the path and saw a little girl wearing a red hood, coming out of the cottage with a little basket. The woman had known that Jack was friends with Red.**_

"_**How did-"**_

_**The woman was gone when Jack turned back around. The girl silently said goodbye then went on to join Red.**_

_**Quinn walked up to his leader and watched the girl in red that the woman was so fascinated with. **_

"_**Anita?"**_

_**She looked at him then back to the girl.**_

"_**You called for me?"**_

"_**It seems a new pack of wolves have moved into this territory. Ones who need to learn their place."**_

"_**I'll gather our best."**_

_**As Quinn walked off, Anita returned her focus to her daughter. Her heart yearned to be down there and play with the three year-old but she never could. Granny appeared out of the cottage and glanced up to where she was standing. She slightly shook her head "no" and went to talk to the new addition. Anita allowed a single tear to be shed before she left.**_

→→→•←←←

Daniel wanted to murder Jack at the moment but he saw something in her eyes that made him rethink the situation. He allowed her to help him carry Will back after grabbing Cora's box. Once they got out of the cave, Daniel and Will got up on his horse while Jack took Will's. The horses burst into a sprint as they headed back to the palace.

Regina and Robin got up and started packing everything back into the basket Robin had brought. Regina honestly didn't want to go back to the life that awaited but she knew she would have to eventually. The two held hands as they walked back together.

Daniel had taken the long way around at first because it was the safest way. Now, he went the quickest way possible no matter what the risk was. Jack was following closely behind him and oblivious to what she was getting herself into.

→→→•←←←

Cora was in a meeting with Anastasia when the doors burst open revealing the trio.

"How many times must I tell you, not to interrupt a royal meeting?!" Cora screeched but quickly quieted when she saw the maimed Will.

"Damn."

Daniel and Jack set him down and looked at her.

"Do something!" Jack screeched.

Cora flicked her wrist and servants poured in and immediately took Will away. Jack ran after to follow him while Anastasia stood there, frozen.

Just then Regina and Robin burst into the room.

"Mother what's with all the servants?"

"Someone got hurt dear."

At the sound of her voice, Daniel turned his head and his breath hitched. The image of her was burned into his memory ever since he was brought back but seeing her now was breathtaking. Her long hair was flowing freely, her body matured, and she was wearing a new kind of outfit that Daniel thought he'd only see in his dreams; not to mention her voice got deep and sexy.

Regina didn't even bother asking about the younger woman standing to the left of her mother. Her eyes went straight to the ghost that was standing to her right.

"Daniel?"

**I know it's kind of dark with a kid dying and all but I had to come up with a reason for Jack to get so messed up. If you don't know who Will or Anastasia are they're characters from Once Upon A Time In Wonderland. I may get some facts wrong about them because I never fully watched it. Don't forget to leave a comment and tell me what you think!**


	16. Truth Revealed

Chapter 16: Truth Revealed

_**Regina was sitting alone in the stables reading a book when her father returned. She scooted off the barrel she was sitting on and ran over to give him a hug.**_

"_**Daddy, how was your trip?" She didn't want to be rude and ask him why it took him a day longer than it should of to get back, so she asked something close to it.**_

"_**Wonderful. Although we may need to get new carriage wheels."**_

"_**Why is that?" She wrapped her arm around her father's waist and the two started walking towards the manor.**_

"_**A few miles from here, my carriage broke down and the two boys managing the farm nearby came to repair it. Alas, they weren't exactly the handiest of men. It was enough to get back here but they would break for anything else."**_

"_**That was very kind of them." **_

_**Henry stopped and looked a his daughter.**_

"_**Regina?"**_

"_**Yes?" She asked and furrowed her brow.**_

"_**You know how our stable hand... met with an 'accident'?"**_

_**Regina remembered that day very well. Three of the servants were killed by her mother because they decided to speak up about how low their pay was. She nodded.**_

"_**Well one of the boys who helped me was looking for a job so I offered him one. He's going to give you lessons about horse-back riding."**_

"_**Father, I already know how to ride." She wasn't amazing at it but she barely fell off. The last thing she wanted was someone telling her what to do when it came to the one thing she found freedom in.**_

"_**I know, I know, but would it be nice to learn how to ride like a pro? Just give it a try Regina."**_

_**She let out a sigh to let her father know she wasn't happy but she agreed anyway.**_

"_**Fine. But if I don't like it, you're sending that stable boy back."**_

→→→•←←←

Regina stood speechless in her mother's throne room. Daniel's gaze met hers for a second then he looked away. Cora strutted past her and mumbled something about having your mouth half-open being very unladylike. Regina closed her mouth and watched as Daniel ran to catch up with Cora. Anastasia stood frozen like a statue and Robin was staring at both of them.

"What just happened?"

"I do believe our true loves just came back in one of the worst ways possible." Anastasia said with her eyes still fixated on a point in the wall.

"Excuse me?" Robin asked.

Anastasia snapped her head down to look at him then at Regina.

"Well you're in for one hell of a ride, Regina."

"How do you know my name?"

"Your mother told me." She said with a shrug.

"What do you mean she's in for a ride?" Robin stood in front of Regina to shield her from what the Red Queen had to say.

"Oh, she knows exactly what I mean." The woman said and turned to leave in the same way Cora and Daniel did.

Regina but her lip and thousands of thoughts were running through her head. She failed to notice Robin's worried look and only looked up when he tugged on her arm.

"Hmm?"

"I said you're extremely pale. Regina, are you okay?"

"Uh.. Yeah.. I just need to go." She left without another word.

Regina found Daniel sitting alone in the garden, quietly observing the stars. He was sitting on a bench underneath an apple tree cradling his right arm. She took a seat next to him and looked up.

"Beautiful aren't they?"

The stars of Wonderland were in completely different places than the ones in the Enchanted forest and all had various colors to them. They were breathtaking.

"Yeah." She whispered.

A moment of silence passed before either of them spoke again.

"You look good." He didn't dare comment about her fashion sense.

"Thanks. You look good too." Neither of them looked at each other, just the stars.

"I remember when we used to always sneak out to watch the sky."

"Among other things." She replied plainly and clenched her jaw.

She heard him laughing but still kept her head locked straight.

"Sure, those moments got me killed but I wouldn't trade them for the world. Every time I made you smile after having a bad day, every training lesson, every date, every kiss, all the times I held you; they meant a lot to me Regina and I kindly ask you not to disregard them because of everything that's happened after."

She finally looked at him and a lump formed in her throat. All of those moments never left her, she always thought about them, they're what made her so hellbent on killing the princess. They only ever seemed to fade away when she was with Robin.

→→→•←←←

_**Regina got up early in the morning so she could avoid the new stable boy. She threw on her riding outfit and headed out into the fields that were covered in the early morning dew. Words could not express how much she loved the outside. As she ran across the field, she felt the cool wind brush against her face and send chills down her back.**_

_**She pulled the stable doors open and stepped inside to find her horse. Knickers was in the last stall to the left and as Regina strolled over she thought about how eerily calm the horses are this morning. Then again she's always the first person to get to the stables to calm them down. She was lost in thought and didn't even notice the other human in the stall she walked over to.**_

"_**Hey!"**_

_**Regina's head shot up to find the source of the voice, dropping the apple she had been carrying on the ground.**_

"_**What are you doing in the stables?" He asked quite rudely.**_

"_**Oh, uh.. I came to see my horse." She nodded towards Knickers.**_

_**His face turned bright red and he looked down while walking out of the stall.**_

"_**Sorry. I'm new here. I don't know who owns what horse so I don't know who's supposed to be in here and who's not."**_

"_**So you just kick anyone who comes along out?"**_

"_**Well no. It's just... you're a girl. You could... y'know get hurt or something."**_

"_**So you're the new stable boy." She was a bit touched that he would be concerned for a stranger's safety, but then again, someone getting hurt on his watch might just cause him his job, and with Cora, maybe even his life.**_

"_**Yeah. You are?"**_

"_**Regina."**_

_**Regina didn't think it was possible for the boy's face to go even redder than it already was, but he proven her wrong. He immediately dropped to one knee and lowered his head.**_

"_**Forgive me for being rude, Milady, I thought you were another one of the servants."**_

_**She didn't know what he was talking about. He was already so much nicer than the other servants so there wasn't any real reason to call him rude. She did like the respect he gave her.**_

"_**It's fine; Just call me Regina. You should also get up, there's no need for kneeling."**_

_**He sheepishly stood up and went back to work while Regina just took a good look at him. He was a lot younger than she expected him to be, he was probably only two years older than her. He had thick light brown hair and bright blue eyes that Regina deemed his best physical trait. He was tall and skinny which made her wonder if he was really suited for the job. **Well, people surprise you all the time. _

"_**How old are you?"**_

"_**Sixteen, but my birthday is in three months."**_

"_**Fifteen." She told him. He nodded and went to brushing the other horses. Regina still didn't like the idea of having a riding teacher but at least she would be able to get along with him.**_

→→→•←←←

Regina was still studying him while he was studying the sky.

"How are you alive?" She asked.

"Frankenstein."

"But the experiment failed."

"Not when Cora ran it."

That was all Regina want to hear. She sat up and wanted to go find her mother but she noticed Daniel's arm instead.

"You're hurt!" She quickly sat back down and pulled his arm over to her.

"Oh, its nothing." Regina simply smirked at him and squeezed his forearm. When he winced in pain, she could tell he lied to her.

"It doesn't seem like nothing. Let me take a look at it."

It wasn't like he had a choice so he did as he was told. Regina waved her hand over is arm and a purple glow emitted from it.

"You can heal?"

"No. But it helps the pain and makes the scaring minor. Its still there in the end though." She said apologetically and flashed a weak smile at him. One that he returned.

"Well. I have to go check on Will." He said flatly.

She wanted him to stay badly so they could just talk like they used to; as if they were the only two in the world. It had been years since she heard his voice and she was perfectly happy with just listening him go on and on about things like he used to but she also didn't want to seem desperate.

In the end, the two stood up, shook hands, and he left her with that familiar look of longing in her eyes.

_No. _She had Robin to think about now. She wasn't even sure if he still cared about her. If he did, he didn't let it show which is some he would of never done before. He was always expressing how much he loved her. Then again, he wasn't surprised that she knew magic, he might know exactly what Regina has been up to and if that's the case then he probably hates her.

She was too busy caught up in her brooding, that she didn't notice Robin when he came into the garden. Or when he sat next to her and asked if she was okay. She only gave him attention by leaning into him when he wrapped his arms around her.

Daniel and Anastasia were hanging around the outside of the healer's room. When the door opened and Cora stepped out.

"He's fine."

The two let out a sigh of relief and made a move to go see Will.

"Ah!" She held out her arm to prevent Anastasia from going forward. "He specifically said you aren't allowed in. Stable Boy, you're fine."

Daniel nodded and went in.

"Cora, please."

"Anastasia," Cora put her arm around the girl's waist and lead her away from the room. "You left him. He moved on. You can't just expect him to let you right back in."

"B-but, true love never dies." Anastasia said it more to herself.

"You tossed him aside for a crown. You murdered hundreds of people after that. Do you really think he's interesting in that kind of woman?"

"But-"

"No."

Cora lead Anastasia even farther away and then left her to go back to the healer's room. Right before she entered the room, she stopped and turned around.

"Regina what did I tell you about eavesdropping?" She called out sternly.

Regina poked her head out from around the corner to glance at her mother. Then, she walked over to the older woman with her head held low.

"It's unacceptable."

"Yes. Now I'm assuming you were listening in because it related to the problems you have with Stable Boy, yes?"

"I-I guess." She shrugged her shoulders and kept her eyes to the floor.

"Maybe I can help?"

Regina looked up with curiosity written on her face. Well her mother knew far more about him than Regina did right now so if anyone could help it'd be her. She bit her lip and looked towards Cora.

"Does he... you know..?"

"Love you?"

Regina looked down again and nodded. She had no idea why she was talking to her mother about such thing like this.

"Honestly, I have no idea. He doesn't like talking about you and when he does its like any servant would talk about their employer." When she saw the despaired look on her daughter's face she knew she had to make something up to help her out.

"But what do I know? I've never had a true love so I can't really spot it when I see it." After another pause, her curiosity got the best of her. "I thought you were with that outlaw anyways."

Regina stiffened and glared up at her mother.

"How do you know about that?"

Cora lit up with laughter

"Oh Dear! Please, everyone in the castle knows about that. News in Wonderland travels fast. So have you slept with the guy yet?"

"Mother!" Regina's eyes were bulging and her mouth was wide-open.

"What?! We're all adults here."

Regina didn't say another word. She just walked away. Cora's hand went up reflexively to stop her with magic but she remembered she was trying to change so she let it slide. Regina was waiting for her mom to stop her but was pleasantly surprised when she didn't. Aside from the secret of Daniel, her mother has been a lot better than when she was in the Enchanted Forest. She kept what her mother said in mind as she made her way over to Robin's room.

→→→•←←←

The moment Will saw he was no longer in the cave, he tried bolting out the door. He quickly flew the sheets off him lunged forward only to be stopped by the searing pain in his torso, and Daniel.

"Easy man." He pushed Will back on the bed and fixed the sheets.

"What happened?"

"Jack threw her sword at me and you jumped in the way."

"Where is she?"

"Out in the hall. I thought it was best to keep her out since she did hurt you-"

"No. Where's Anastasia?"

"Oh, Cora wouldn't let her in. She said you didn't want her in here."

"I don't."

It was a lie, Daniel could tell but he decided not to pay attention to it. The two stayed quiet for a moment, just listening to Will's raspy breaths coming in and out until he decided to break the silence.

"What's it like to see her again?"

"Well she wasn't as pissed as I thought she'd be, it could just be because she has a new boyfriend."

"ouch."

"Whatever. The past is in the past."

"That's what I keep telling myself, it doesn't do any good. It just hurts even more to try and put something like that behind you. Pain demands to be felt." After a pause he added. "I'm here if you just want to talk about it."

Daniel chuckled a bit. Will didn't know half of the story but here he was, trying to help him anyway. Maybe if he knew about the little trip Daniel took to the Enchanted Forest two months ago, he'd think differently.

"When did you become so wise?" He teased.

"The moment I came to Wonderland and all my dreams were crushed."

Daniel patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry man, it'll get better."

He got up to leave when Will called out to him.

"Can you send Jack in?"

"Sure thing."

→→→•←←←

_**The first lesson didn't go bad, it went great actually. So did the next three of them. Because he was around Regina's age he knew exactly how to handle her and even made some of the lessons fun for her. The day after her fifth lesson, it started to pour while she was bringing her horse in for the day.**_

_**After she placed him in the stall, Regina darted out into the rain. It had been a while since the last time she was allowed out in the rain and she didn't want to waste a moment of it.**_

"_**Come back in! You're gonna catch a cold!" Daniel called from the stables. He knew he would never hear the end of it if the girl caught pneumonia. **_

"_**Make me!" She called back and ran even farther away.**_

_**Daniel shook his head and went back to work. Regina watched him go back in and a wave of disappointment washed over her. She was quite surprised at how much she wanted him to come spend some time with her. **It must be the fact that he was the only one around my age here. **She didn't want to admit to the possibility of having a crush on the servant.**_

_**As soon as Daniel finished up his work, he sprinted out into the rain to catch up with Regina. She was busy splashing around in a puddle so she didn't notice him sneak up behind her.**_

"_**Gotcha!" He called out as he wrapped his arms around her and spun her around. She let out a shriek and started laughing. As soon as he put her down, she kicked the water in the puddle at him and ran off. He tried jumping back but he wasn't fast enough and water drenched his pants. **_

"_**That little-" He darted after her and straight towards an apple tree. **_

_**He came up to the tree and searched around the base for Regina. She wasn't anywhere to be seen and he started to worry. Right before he was able to call our to her, and apple fell down and hit him on the head.**_

"_**What the?" He looked up and saw the girl sitting on one of the branches, laughing to herself. Daniel couldn't help but grin. She gracefully jumped down and landed next to him. It was at that moment Daniel realized exactly how beautiful she was. She turned and saw him looking at her.**_

"_**What?" She asked with a smile.**_

"_**Nothing." He replied with the same smile. He took note on how late it was getting and how long it would take to get back to the manor.**_

"_**Let's go." He said with a nod of his head towards the direction of the stables.**_


	17. Snowing

Chapter 17: Snowing

Snow and David were walking hand-in-hand down the brick road that was marked on their map. Cora had sent them out on a mission to get them out of her hair and the two had been aching to get outside so they happily obliged. They were taking their time getting there, soaking up the beautiful landscapes that Wonderland had to offer. All they had to do was get something called a Forget-me-knot from a man on the outskirts of Cora's territory.

Snow wanted to spend as much time as possible with David so when Jefferson offered to go with them, she respectively declined. Henry had asked why Snow was so glued to David and Regina muttered something about true love which made Snow even more attached to the shepherd. If Regina's true love could get ripped away so easily by a mere eleven year-old then surely David could be too and she didn't know what she would do if she had lost him as well. So far, Regina and David were the only ones bringing light into her dark days after her father died.

The two decided to take a break and David studied the map for the one hundredth time.

"David?"

David turned to find Snow sitting on a log and staring blankly at the sky. Dark clouds were forming and moving towards them at a rapid pace. David didn't even bother thinking, he ran towards Snow and wrapped his arms around her, shielding her from the harsh wind.

When the two opened their eyes again, everything was covered in a thick blanket of frost. Snow let out a squeal of delight and pulled David up and over to a pile. He responded quickly by scooping her up and tossing her lightly into the snow. She giggled and threw a snowball at him then quickly made for a nearby tree. David managed to dodge, make a snowball, and follow after her before she found cover.

Snow couldn't contain her laughter since this was the most fun she had since her birthday. It felt as if rain was pouring down on her after a hundred-year drought and she was trying to soak up as much as she possibly could.

Before David could throw his snowball, the princess chucked another at him and got him right in the gut. He doubled over and groaned in pain which immediately sent a wave of fear over Snow. Only when she came to check if he was okay did a wide smile spread across his face as he lunged forward to grab her by the waist. She tried to escape his grip but was halted when he crashed his lips upon hers. It took her only a second to reply with a tilt of her head and the shifting of her leg.

After a minute to two pulled apart to gaze at the scene ahead of them. The blankets of snow covered the brick path and the sun shone just right on the icicles that hung from the tree branches overhead.

"It's beautiful."

"Of course, but you are the most beautiful Snow of all." He replied while turning to face her.

"Well aren't you a real charmer?" She teased.

"Call me your Prince Charming."

The name really seemed to stick in her mind and she took a minute to think about it.

"Charming. What a suitable pet name."

"I was joking. Just call me David."

A devilish grin appeared on her face. "Nah, Charming's better."

He chuckled at her stubbornness and grabbed her hand as the two started walking again.

"You remember where the road is?" He asked.

"Nope."

→→→•←←←

_**Snow had gotten into trouble for going out to the stables that late at night but she didn't care. The only thing she was thinking about was what Regina had told her. That stable boy, he was Regina's true love and yet she wasn't allowed to marry him. Snow had desperately wanted to tell her father to break off the engagement and to allow their marriage but she also wanted to keep Regina's secret. Her little head was spinning with the complexity of it and she was on the verge of tears because of how unfair it was. **_

_**Unfair because Regina wasn't allowed to be with her love meaning she wasn't allowed to be happy and unfair because all Snow wanted was for Regina to be her new mom. All of a sudden, a idea popped into her head and a wide smile crept onto her face. Yes. This could possibly work.**_

_**The moment the light shone on her round face, the princess bolted from the bed and rushed to the stables completely ignoring her father's good morning or the invitation to breakfast. She yanked the stable doors open and dashed in only to be grabbed by two adult hands. She was spun around and came face to face with the stable boy.**_

"_**Princess Snow, what are you doing here?"**_

"_**Take me with you." She said eagerly.**_

_**A dumbfounded expression crossed his face as he processed what she told him.**_

"_**What?"**_

"_**My father is always traveling and sometimes I get really lonely at the castle. If I go with you guys then I'll always have someone looking after me. Plus I really want to be with Regina. She's the nicest person I've ever met!" She told him with a grin.**_

"_**Uh... We can't take you Snow, you have to stay at the castle with your father so one day you can become queen."**_

"_**What if I don't want to be queen?" A pout formed on her face and Daniel smiled a bit.**_

"_**I'll tell you what." He squatted down she he'd be eye-level with her and grabbed her hands. "When you get crowned queen, I'll make sure Regina and I will be there to see the whole thing. After a few years, everything will be calmed down and we can all meet up again. Regina won't be your mother but she can still be your friend. Is that okay for you?"**_

_**Snow thought about it. In a way, it was a win-win deal. Regina would get her happiness and Snow would still be friends with her. The princess nodded and smiled again.**_

"_**Maybe you guys could even come and live in the palace with father and I!"**_

"_**Maybe." He said with a shrug.**_

_**Her smile got even wider and she leaned in to give him a hug which he easily complied to. **_

"_**So, you wanna try and get back on the horse?"**_

"_**Yes!"**_

→→→•←←←

After wandering around Wonderland, asking locals for directions, and time passing, the two finally made it to a cottage where the Forget-me-knot was. They went up to the door and knocked. No response.

"Try again."

David knocked again and when he looked in through a window he saw no occupants.

"No one's home."

"Should we wait?"

"Well, we could just take it and leave a note."

The two thought about the choices and decided to go in and take the knot. The house was neat and they made sure to leave it that way as the got to the rope hanging from the ceiling.

"That must be it."

David went to work untying the rope while Snow carefully searched the house. She was able to find a blank piece of paper and a quill to make a quick note to the home owner.

**Needed this for important business. Will try to return after.**

** Sorry and many thanks! **

After some hesitation, she drew a smiley face on the bottom and placed it on the table so the owner could see. With more thought, she even left some gold she was carrying and put it next to the note.

"Ready?"

"Ready." David held up the knot.

"Let's go."

The trip back was easier but they kept at a fast pace due to the time it took to get to the cottage. They were both relatively silent throughout the entire trip. David pondered about how the rope could be used and how it worked while Snow simply though about how many kids she wanted with David. One thing was certain, one kid **will **be named Emma. She didn't know why, but she just loved that name and if David didn't; it sucks for him.

→→→•←←←

_**Snow spent the day practicing her riding and even learning tips on doing jumps for when she was ready in the future. It was amazing to Snow that the stable boy that wasn't that much older than her, was a far better teacher than her professional riding instructor. It was something that Johanna noticed while she sat in the fields watching the young princess ride. **_

_**After she saw Snow attempt a jump and almost succeed at it, she decided to go inform the king.**_

"_**Your majesty."**_

"_**Yes Johanna?"**_

"_**I was watching Snow down in the fields and it seems that stable boy is teaching her well. She is already attempting jumps after only a few hours of practice."**_

_**The king's eyebrows shot up in surprise and considered what Johanna was hinting at.**_

"_**Well, I suppose Lady Cora won't need a stable boy here if she come to live at the palace and the price for Snow's teacher is ridiculous considering the little amount of progress she makes with him. I wish to meet this stable boy."**_

_**Snow brought her horse to a halt once she saw her father approaching. With Daniel's help, she leaped from the saddle and ran into her father's arms.**_

"_**Father, have you seen what I learned from Daniel?" **_

"_**Yes and I am very impressed. Tell me stable boy, once Lord Henry and Lady Cora move to the palace, what will become of you?"**_

"_**I... uh..." He never really had the time to think about that since his only plan had been to run away with Regina.**_

"_**You'll need a job yes?"**_

"_**I presume so."**_

_**A smile spread across the king's face and he put a hand on Daniel's shoulder.**_

"_**How woulds you like to come to the palace and teach Snow? For a fair amount of gold of course."**_

_**Snow jumped with joy and Daniel stood dumbfounded. **Gold? Cora only pays me in silver. **Before he could reply, Snow ran up and gave him a hug but immediately pulled back to look at him once she remembered he was supposed to be leaving tonight.**_

"_**Yes. Of course I would teach the princess." He said with a smile.**_

_**The king chuckled a bit and held out his hand for Daniel to shake. He then reached for Snow's hand nodded towards the manor.**_

"_**Come lets go tell Lady Cora of the news."**_

→→→•←←←

Snow and David walked through the halls of the palace with the new pieces of jewelry Cora allowed them to pick__out. Snow had a new silver necklace with a golden swan hanging from the chain while David had a solid gold bracelet with blue studs in it. Cora had been very pleased with their work and offered them a spot in the group sent out for the next thing Cora needed. Before they rounded a corner, something caught Snow's attention and when she turned around she saw none other than Daniel heading into Cora's study.

She immediately stopped to try and determine is what she saw was real or not. David saw her face go white and heard small gasp and got concerned.

"Who was that?"

"That. Was Regina's dead fiancee."

"The one she told us about when you stayed over my house?" He questioned with a puzzled look on his face. Snow slowly nodded and kept her eyes fixed to the spot Daniel walked into. If he was still alive then there was still a chance. The moment Regina told her that she was going to be her mother after all, Snow vowed to make Regina's life as happy as she could and she was going to keep her promise. All she had to do was find a way to get the two to really talk to each other.

"That's a problem since Regina seems to have her eye on Robin." David noted.

Snow looked at him curiously. It was the first time she had heard about this and was a bit offended that Regina wouldn't tell her about something like that. Of course that's **if **it were true.

"I know Regina. She wouldn't date an outlaw even if he was as nice as Robin. I'll get them back together, you'll see."

**Let me know what you think! **

**I know most of the fanbase ships Outlaw Queen so I'm gonna try to keep it in here for a bit but Daniel is a really flexible character so Stable Queen is easier to write. Plus Stable Queen has been my OTP since they were first introduced and there's not enough fan fictions with them when the website is practically flooding with OQ along with CS. If you loved Titanic then you gotta have some feels for Stable Queen.**


	18. Not Just a Simple Stable Boy

**Warning: Marital Rape**

Chapter 18: Not Just a Simple Stable Boy

"Keep moving!" Will shouted before turning back to cut down the two approaching men.

Regina wasn't sure if it was Jack or Anastasia screaming Will's name but she didn't care. She ran as fast as she could, holding onto the princess's hand, pulling her along through the jungle. The trees and vines flew by in a blur as her instincts only screamed at her to go faster. Robin ran alongside her with Jefferson in tow and Anastasia and Jack behind him. They had lost David a while back and Daniel was no where to be found. A good part of her wanted to go back get find their fallen companions but she knew if they didn't stop running, all of them would surely die.

A clearing came into view and they pushed forward. Once they made it through the brush, Snow collapsed. It took Regina a split-second to turn around and start to pull her up.

"No.." The girl gasped out.

Everyone else had stopped to catch their breath; their hands on their knees and chests heaving, trying to grasp as much air as their lungs allowed. Will and James came into the clearing and ran to Jack.

"We.. need to keep going." Regina wheezed.

Jefferson squeezed his eyes shut and groaned from the ache in his muscles.

"I'm sorry your majesty but if we keep going we're going pass out."

Just then, the bushes started rustling and everyone's head snapped up and their bodies tensed at the approaching man. The branches fell aside and Daniel with an unconscious David fell to the ground.

"David!" Snow breathed and rushed over to him. She checked him over, let out a sigh of relief, and held him close.

"Daniel?" Regina took a step towards her stable boy.

He looked up at her with vacant eyes. His hands and clothes were bloodied and ruffed up, his hair was messy, sweat covered his body, and there were dark circles under his eyes. He basically looked like he had dug himself out of hell.

And that was without mentioning the arrow protruding out from where his heart should be.

→→→•←←←

_Three hours earlier..._

Daniel was doing his nightly rounds when he found two unconscious guards at their post. He checked around to try and find any trespassers or other guards before walking over to them. One he realized as an archer named Donald and the other as a knight named Rick. He didn't really know the two but Cora had her guards specially trained, she had one of the strongest armies out there so there could be no way these two were taken off guard.

If something dangerous came upon the castle, Cora must know. He took off sprinting down the hallway.

"Move you idiots!" He called as he pushed past the tweedles that seemed to follow Anastasia everywhere. Apparently they were assigned to every royal but Cora found them too annoying, not like her personal adviser was any better than them.

He pulled open the doors to the queen's study and slammed them shut.

"What the hell is going on?"

"I found two unconscious guards without any sign of a struggle. Someone's in the castle."

Cora's face went cold, she had no idea how, but the caterpillar's mercenaries had found their way inside her home.

"The caterpillar's men are here." She stated.

"But I thought you had a truce with them."

"So did I." After a moment she added. "All of his mercenaries are trained to kill and will not hesitate to do so. My men can defend us but just to be safe, I want you to get our friends out of here."

"And you?"

"I'm staying. We'll regroup at my vault in ten days."

Daniel knew better than to question Cora's motives so he ran off to gather the others. If she thought this was going to get worse than it seemed, he needed to get the others as far away as possible.

→→→•←←←

"Are you sure this is the place?"

"Yes."

"Alright men. Burn it down."

James smiled at the roar of the thugs as they charged towards the Queen of Heart's palace. He knew the caterpillar wouldn't turn down the gold he offered and he needed the men if he wanted to conquer Wonderland. The Queen of Hearts had the richest kingdom and the toughest men so when James proposed the idea, the men were excited at the idea of bringing them down. He picked up his sword and decided to sneak in. After all, there was someone he had to talk to.

→→→•←←←

The moment James opened the door, David charged him. It was no battle however. James grabbed David's arm and swung him around so his face slammed into the door. David groaned in pain and tried to free himself but James quickly stopped him.

"Who are you?" James asked and twisted David's arm a bit to add importance to the question.

"My name is David. I'm your twin brother."

James fell silent for a moment. He never had a brother and his father didn't seem like the type to keep things from him. Then again, it was the only logical answer. David sensed James's inner turmoil and decided to elaborate.

"Our parents were shepherds. They were going to lose their farm but the dark one said if they gave up one of their newborn sons, he would help them. King George had paid the dark one to get him a child since his wife could never have one."

James remained quiet as he took in this new information. George had always treated him like a son but there was some kind of distance between them. Could this be the reason why?

"Listen, I know you're confused, trust me I was too. You should come with us, I'll answer any questions you have and you can even meet your mother. The one that actually gave birth to you. The one that spent seventeen years of her life living with a constant pain because she had to give up one of her children."

James knew he couldn't just abandon his goal and let his father down but he also couldn't kill his own brother. He wasn't as caring as most people were but he did care for his family.

"The caterpillar, his men are here. They're going to take this place over and kill your friends." James confessed.

Horror spread across David's face and he started to run into the hallway.

Before he got to Snow's room, he ran straight into Daniel.

"Thugs!... Gonna kill us.." David forced out between panicked breaths.

Daniel nodded and continued to Snow's room, not asking about the man who looked exactly like David. He open the door to the princess's room and David bolted in and over to the girl.

"Snow!"

Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around the room.

"What's going on?"

"We're under attack. C'mon, I'll keep you safe." He tried to calm her once she started panicking even though he was scared out of his mind as well. After a second, she grabbed David's hand and followed him back to the door, staying right by his side. Daniel couldn't help but smile, seeing the sweet little girl all grown and with a love of her own. Once they were ready they continued on gathering their allies.

Regina was snuggled up next to Robin when Snow frantically pounded on the door. She grumbled and got up. When she opened the door, Snow dashed in and started shaking Robin awake. Then it hit her.

She looked up at Regina and then back at the shirtless Robin. Her mouth formed a circle and to add extra effect, Daniel came to the doorway, took one look at the two and then at Snow.

"Let's go." Then he was out.

Snow just nodded and left.

Regina and Robin threw on their clothes and ran to catch up.

"What's going on?" She demanded.

"The caterpillar's men are here. They plan to kill us all."

"And we're not staying to fight because?"

Daniel stopped in his tracks to face her.

"I have worked with your mother for the past five years. If she tells me to evacuate you guys then that's what I'm doing. You've never face these men before so I suggest you leave this situation to the people who know how to handle it."

He turned around and went into the healer's room to get Will, Jack, and Anastasia who had been sitting outside. When he came back, Jack threw herself into James's arms and everyone finally calmed down.

"Follow me and keep your mouths shut."

→→→•←←←

_**Daniel walked out into the courtyard where Cora sat, waiting for him. He took a seat next to her and her ever-present sinister smile widened. **_

"_**So how do you like Wonderland so far."**_

"_**I've only been here a few days."**_

"_**So?"**_

_**He glared over at her then back to the fountain infront of them.**_

"_**Why am I here?" He asked with a hint of rising anger in his voice. He didn't know why but it seemed like he was always angry nowadays.**_

"_**I want to teach you magic."**_

_**He stood up and faced her. He was so sick of magic. He saw Regina get abused with magic, servants die from magic, and he himself was killed by it. **_

"_**I'm not learning anything from you until I see Regina."**_

"_**Afraid that's not happening."**_

"_**Why?"**_

"_**She's... busy."**_

_**He clenched his jaw and balled his hands up into fists. Whenever he asked, that was always the answer. And so he was stuck here, without her, and with the very person who killed him.**_

"_**Fine, I'll learn. As long as I don't end up like you."**_

"_**That, is entirely up to you."**_

_**2 months later**_

"_**Stable Boy!"**_

_**Daniel placed his sword in his sheath and ran to find Cora. When he entered the library, he found her with another man. He was tall and skinny, good-looking, with dark hair and dark eyes. **_

"_**Stable boy, meet Will."**_

"_**Hi."**_

_**Will just nodded to him.**_

"_**He is going to be your new partner. Why don't you take him down to the training grounds and see what he knows?"**_

_**Daniel nodded and leaded the new guy outside. **_

"_**So.. why did Cora take you in?"**_

"_**I didn't really have anywhere else to go... My girlfriend left me after we moved here."**_

_**They stopped walking and Daniel wanted to find out more about this guy.**_

"_**Moved here?"**_

"_**Well... Yeah. We were originally from the Enchanted Forest, but we came here to get away from her parents and have a fresh start. It didn't go as planned and she decided to marry a king instead of living the peasant life with me."**_

_**Daniel felt a sharp pain in his heart. In a way, he knew what this guy was going through. The only thing that confused him was how he said it so carelessly and just shrugged it off as if it was no big deal. Cora must have done something.**_

"_**And you're okay with that?"**_

"_**Well, I don't need her. She's happy with the king, apparently I'm not good enough for her."**_

_**They stood in silence for a bit until Will clapped his hands and looked out over the field.**_

"_**So, shall we get started?"**_

"_**Yeah. Follow me."**_

_**That night he went up to Cora's chambers. He found her sitting in a chair facing a large mirror.**_

"_**Come, sit." She waved her hand over to the chair next to her. **_

_**He took a seat and she poured him a glass of red wine. **_

"_**I'm guessing you came here to ask about my daughter again."**_

_**He took a sip from his glass and nodded. Cora took a gulp.**_

"_**Here's the thing. Since you died and she pushed me out of her life, literally, she... started going down the wrong path."**_

_**He froze at her words. Cora doesn't bother lying to him here anymore but Regina could never be bad. Could she? No, she hated magic, but then again, so did he.**_

"_**Just... uh... watch the mirror."**_

_**The reflection of the room started rippling and it changed to an image of a dark room. By the looking at the expensive furniture and clothing scattered around the place, it was a royal bedroom.**_

_**Suddenly, a young woman and an older man came stumbling into the room. Daniel immediately recognized the woman as Regina and the man as Leopold. With closer inspection he could see the king was a little tipsy and Regina was crying. **_

"_**Please, not tonight. I'm not feeling well." He heard her plead.**_

"_**But tomorrow I go on a trip for a month."**_

"_**Maybe when you get back." She asked hopefully with a broken smile.**_

_**She was quickly silenced when he forced his lips upon hers. Cora took another gulp of wine as Leopold started leading Regina to his bed and forcing himself on her. He started hastily ripping her clothes off as well as his, and throwing them to the ground. Daniel could only watch in horror as his true love was being violated and he could only listen as she cried out for the king to stop. As Leopold started to reach his climax, Daniel looked over to see Cora chugging down the bottle of wine.**_

_Well at least she knows she's responsible for this and feels guilty. **Cora caught his gaze and whipped out another bottle for Daniel. He just took a sip out of the bottle like she did. Once the event ended the two watched Regina go back to her room and cry herself to sleep. They were dead silent and another image popped up on the mirror. **_

_**Regina was talking to a man dressed in all black armor. They couldn't hear what they were saying but the man got a devilish grin and strolled away. A puff of red smoke appeared in the back of the room and a scaly man went over to talk to Regina. **_

"_**Regina has been learning dark magic from him. He's also the man who taught me. Rumpelstiltskin, the dark one."**_

_**Her words sent a chill down his spine. If he thought Cora was bad, than this man must be a hundred times worse.**_

_**The man and Regina went over the last lesson they had and how they were going to work on her conjuring abilities next. By this time Daniel had stopped paying attention, he just stared at the floor in front of him. After a minute he got up and left.**_

→→→•←←←

The group started running out the back way. The explosions and the smell of smoke that was starting to invade their senses propelled them forward. James started running ahead of everyone. He always had a need for self preservation and if the thugs saw him betraying them, he'd be dead for sure. He looked back to find David right behind him. He smiled but it didn't last long.

Before he was able to focus on the path infront of him, a solid, heavy object came into contact with his face. He fell backwards and nine men jumped out to finish the job. Daniel and Will pulled out their swords and saved James before he was done for. James pulled out his sword and fought alongside the others. More men started coming out of the bushes and they became badly outnumbered.

"Run!" Daniel commanded.

"What?" Regina turned to face him right as he drove his sword through a man's torso.

"Take your friends and go. We'll hold them off."

He turned back to fighting. An arrow whizzed by her face and when she spotted Robin, she was snapped out of her thoughts. She grabbed Snow's wrist and took off.

"David!" Snow saw him get knocked down and she tried to run to him but Regina yanked harshly on her arm. Robin and Jefferson started following after her. Will turned back to see them leave while Anastasia and Jack continued fighting.

"Keep moving!" He yelled at them and turned to fight the two men approaching them. Both women had jumped a little at his tone but they followed his orders and chased after the others. Anastasia called his name to try and get him to run with them but he didn't pay attention to her.

Daniel saw the men start to fall back to the palace and knew it was time to get out of there.

"Grab the prince." He called to Will and focused on the other brother. He grabbed the shepherd and slung him over his shoulder just as Will ran off with James. He started after them but before he got far, an arrow found its way right into his chest. He stopped dead in his tracks and put David down carefully. When he turned around he saw two men with their bows aimed at him; the tips of the arrows on fire. A wave of terror washed over their faces as they saw the stable boy's features darken. Daniel smirked at their reaction and closed the distance between them quickly.

Cora had told him to stray away from fire just in case. He was usually able to keep his cool around it but there was one time he slipped up and caused major damage. Now that his life was at a huge risk, he couldn't fully keep his anger down. He had killed a man with his bare hands before; now he was going to kill two.

→→→•←←←

_**After seeing the king's actions with Regina, Daniel couldn't think straight. Cora had called him up a few times after that and he was sure every time he left that room, he left behind a piece of his sanity. It felt like someone had dropped a load of brick on his heart every time he thought of her. **_

_**One day he went to Will for advice.**_

"_**Will."**_

"_**Hmm?"**_

"_**How did you get over the pain of losing Anastasia?"**_

"_**Oh well. I had Cora rip out my heart." He said as if it was the simplest thing.**_

_**Daniel half-expected this and thought about his choices. He knew he couldn't live with the pain of not being with her but he wasn't sure if he was ready to not feel anything at all.**_

"_**Can you show me how she did it?"**_

→→→•←←←

A clearing came into view and they pushed forward. Once they made it through the brush, Snow collapsed. It took Regina a split-second to turn around and start to pull her up.

"No.." The girl gasped out.

Everyone else had stopped to catch their breath; their hands on their knees and chests heaving, trying to grasp as much air as their lungs allowed. Will and James came into the clearing and ran to Jack.

"We.. need to keep going." Regina wheezed.

Jefferson squeezed his eyes shut and groaned from the ache in his muscles.

"I'm sorry your majesty but if we keep going we're going pass out."

Just then, the bushes started rustling and everyone's head snapped up and their bodies tensed at the approaching man. The branches fell aside and Daniel with an unconscious David fell to the ground.

"David!" Snow breathed and rushed over to him. She checked him over, let out a sigh of relief, and held him close.

"Daniel?" Regina took a step towards her stable boy.

He looked up at her with vacant eyes. His hands and clothes were bloodied and ruffed up, his hair was messy, sweat covered his body, and there were dark circles under his eyes. He basically looked like he had dug himself out of hell.

And that was without mentioning the arrow protruding out from where his heart should be.

Regina brought herself closer to him and looked him over again. There was no way he could still be alive. _Unless..._

Before she could voice her thoughts, Daniel gripped the arrow and tugged on it. He threw it to the ground and sat down. Regina sat next to him and put her hand on his shoulder. He finally looked up to her.

_So maybe Cora's not the heartless person I'm looking for..._


	19. And So We Wait

Chapter 19: And So We Wait

It was as if her heart had stopped beating. Her blood seemed to had froze and with every breath she took, a huge weight pushed down on her chest. She knew he wouldn't still be the innocent young man she had fallen in love with, (he was working with her mother for one thing) but she had never expected it to go this far. She never expected him to break as easily as she did.

She held onto the tree next to her to balance herself. The lack of oxygen was making her dizzy and she felt like she was going to topple over at any minute. As she tried to take in another gulp of air, she picked up on all the scents of the forest. The strongest being the smell of smoke. The jungle made all the death a faint aroma but it failed miserably at hiding the pungent fumes coming from the burning palace. Regina was sure she could even hear screams and war cries coming from behind them.

Before she could even fully process what she was doing, she ripped apart a spare blanket that was in her pack and tugged off Daniel's bloody shirt. He may not from a heart puncture but he could still bleed to death and at the rate he was losing blood, it wouldn't take very long. She snatched some alcohol from Robin's bag and wet down one of the blanket pieces so she could clean up the wound. She wrapped the rest of the cloth around his chest tightly and took a swig of alcohol. When all of this was over, she would need plenty more bottles of it.

As she gave the bottle back to Robin, she saw the stunned faces of everyone.

"What?"

No one spoke up and the scene seemed to freeze until Daniel finally stood.

"We need to go, now."

"You're hurt!" Snow scolded.

"And if we stay, all of us will get hurt."

"Right then, lets all hold hands and try not to get separated." Will instructed.

He picked up Anastasia's things and strolled deeper into the jungle. The rest of the group groaned but followed after him nonetheless.

After they got a mile away, Daniel slowed his pace so he could walk alongside Regina. One hand was over his bandages and the other holding his tattered shirt. She had seen him shirtless a few times before during the intimate nights they had in the stables. Even with the dim light the trees overhead provided, she could tell he had really bulked up since then. She was starting to wonder if he would be able to beat Robin in a fight when he pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Anyone would of done it."

"Actually, no."

She looked over at him with a raised eyebrow and he took it as a cue to elaborate.

"I've been left to die by the royal guards when they saw it was pointless to try and save me."

"Well you're still here."

"Sometimes Will helps and other times I find a way out."

"Seems your life has gotten pretty exciting."

He chuckled a little then looked at her more seriously.

"Maybe so, but what's a great life when you have no one to share it with?"

"Yeah, it sucks doesn't it?"

The hurt look he gave her made her immediately regret her choice of words. She hadn't even thought he could feel that without his heart.

"I didn't mean to leave you."

"Then why didn't you come back?"

He desperately wanted to tell her that he did but he could tell she was still trying to process the whole no-heart thing so he kept his mouth shut. Instead, he pulled out the only thing he bothered to take with him that night.

The silver bracelet with amethyst studs made Regina stop dead in her tracks.

"Where did you get that?"

"Where do you think?"

Regina had been arranged to marry a young prince way before Leopold came into the picture. He gave the bracelet to her as an early wedding gift since he wouldn't be there, for he was going to be out of a job with no one to teach or horses to care for. When the arrangement was called off due to Regina's grandfather, King Xavier, thinking she was too young to marry and the boy was spoiled and disrespectful,(She didn't exactly know why but her grandfather was always more protective of her than his other grandkids. Sadly, he passed two years after so he couldn't stop Cora a second time) she kept the bracelet after Daniel refused to take it back. What had stumped her about its reappearance was that she had worn it to her wedding with the king; which was after Daniel's death and Cora's banishment.

She yanked the jewelry from his fingers and inspected it. It was definitely the one he gave her since there was a little scrape in one of the studs exactly where she remembered it.

"When did you take this?"

"Three years ago. You were traveling with the king."

Daniel observed her face as she studied the memento and his eyes were only brought down when she unconsciously reached up to grab something around her neck. The light glinted off the gold and Daniel couldn't contain his smile when he saw what it was. His ring. After all this time she still had it and valued it. She felt him staring and was completely confused when she saw his schoolboy grin. She followed his gaze down to the ring she had completely forgotten was there since she wore it almost all the time for fear of losing it.

"You still have my ring."

She started to say something but her voice didn't come out. She was starting to realize exactly how close he was and the fact that the group had gone on ahead and left the two alone didn't help. She knew the look he gave her, it was the same one he had after he had slipped that ring on her finger; one of pure love. _Wait, what?_ She furrowed her brow and looked at him.

"What?"

"If you removed your heart, why aren't you a non-emotional prick?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you don't have a heart then you can't love but that's clearly not the case with you."

"Uh... I-"

"There's no point in lying to me, dear. I can read you like a book."

He remained expressionless for a moment then a smirk appeared and he leaned in closer to her.

"Well I guess that makes two of us."

"You don't know me."

"More than you know me."

Before she could say anything else, he walked away after the group. She stood there for a few more seconds to try and take in what happened. The whole situation was bad enough and throwing in this love triangle was only making it worse. She truly felt a connection with Robin but she just wasn't able to get Daniel out of her head enough to focus on him. Even when she tried sleeping with him, she thought back to her first time with her stable boy. She groaned in frustration and rubbed her temples.

→→→•←←←

It had taken some time to convince the group to wait the ten day. Wonderland was a harsh world depending on what kingdom you lived in. The caterpillar's men were used to the Red Queen's rules and when they brought it over to a more peaceful kingdom such as Cora's, the game was tilted in their favor and he didn't want them anywhere near that. Luckily, Daniel was skilled in the art of evading royalty so he knew exactly how the assault would play out.

First, a distraction would draw the main attention. In his case, he would use an accident in the kitchen, staged by the head chef and his personal friend Connie, to slip past the guards to get in the main hall of the manor. The thugs used cannons and flaming arrows to draw out the guards so the more elite men would slip in on an unwatched side. He wouldn't take the main route, but not the most isolated one either, it was too obvious. Guards always monitored the secluded paths, especially during attacks so the men would probably take the side halls to get over to the study. Royals were never at their thrones and only the kings and queens of the Enchanted Forest were stupid enough to hide in their bedrooms. His point was proven when he always found Cora in her study and Regina in her bedroom, not that he was complaining since it made his life easier for him. He had gone over the procedure hundreds of times with Cora after finally convincing her he knew what he was doing since he had been able to date her daughter for three years without her ever finding out. He honestly thought she was going to kill him again after that but she just quieted down and listened carefully. Carefully enough to probably still be alive right now.

They were all camped out around a small fire in the heart of the jungle. The faint sound of a running waterfall filled the silence alongside the vague chirping of crickets mixed in with the occasional crackle of the fire. The cool night forced them all to sit in pairs for more warmth. Everyone was cuddled up with their special someone save for Daniel and Jefferson, who sat together father back.

"So how'd Regina react when she saw you again?"

"Stunned, but overall pretty calm."

"Think you two might have a chance?"

"Well, when I went to wake her up tonight, I found her in Robin's bed."

"Ouch."

"Yeah."

They sat in silence for a bit just observing the scene around them. Jefferson making note on all the shadows the trees cast and Daniel watching Regina and Robin interact. He had his arm wrapped around her and was joking about something that resulted in them both laughing and him kissing her on the cheek. He noticed the bracelet on her wrist and checked it out then kissed her hand while staring into her dark brown eyes. While he did this, her eyes scanned around and met Daniel's gaze. Her smile instantly vanished and they both turned away.

"So how's the kid?"

"Grace? Good. She's grown a lot since the last you saw her."

He smiled. Whenever he crossed over to the Enchanted Forest, he stayed with Jefferson and the two had become decent friends. He had taken a liking to the energetic little girl since he had always wanted one of his own. He even volunteered to teach her how to ride when she was older. During one of Regina's visits Grace almost slipped up about Daniel but luckily the queen was too busy pestering Jefferson to pay attention to the rambling toddler.

"When did you two become friends?"

Both of the guys snapped their heads around and jumped a little when they saw the queen standing to their right and staring at them.

"Jefferson helped your mother resurrect me."

With the way Regina glared at Jefferson, Daniel knew he screwed up. The hatter's eyes were wide and bulging, he offered a weak smile, and his arms were held up protectively as he waited for her reaction.

"You knew all this time?!" She snarled.

Daniel had seen her mad before, but not this mad. Her lips were pulled back and she bared her teeth. Her fists were clenched and she was seething with anger.

"Well... Yes."

Just as Regina moved to throttle him, Daniel stood up and grabbed Regina's arms from behind.

"Let me go!"

"Sorry. No can do."

He dragged her out to the side and released her. He grabbed her shoulders and moved infront of her before she could bolt back.

"He was just doing his job, leave him alone."

"Do you know how many times I've worked with him? How many times he's lied to me about what happened that day? How he- wait. If you're here, who the hell's body so I have in my vault?"

He started to say something but froze. They both exchanged confused looks and turned in unison to walk back to Jefferson.

"Who's body do I have in my vault?"

"I have no idea."

She rushed forward, grabbed his shirt and yanked him off the log he was sitting on.

"Bullshit!"

"No seriously! Cora gave me a body that was disguised with magic. I don't know whose but it's definitely not his!"

"How did you even get in my vault?!"

"Well when you took me and the doctor there I remembered the way in. When you left for practice with the dark one, I sneaked back in and swapped the bodies."

She released his shirt with a push that sent him to the ground. When she glanced over at Daniel she saw he was surprised and even... impressed? She looked between the two and her face went red. He just smiled. Of course he did, he always found her extremely attractive when she was pissed.

"I have to go."

She quickly tucked her hair back behind her ear and dashed over to Robin.

Daniel reached out to help Jefferson up. He gladly took the help and started brushing off the dirt on his clothes while mumbling to himself.

"That was a little extreme."

"Well she's been lied to her entire life. I hurt when she found out someone she thought she could trust was keeping to biggest secret from her."

The hatter just sighed and sat back down.

"I honestly don't know what you still see in her besides her looks."

→→→•←←←

"Will, can we talk?"

"Sure mate, what's up?"

The sun had risen and the group was on their way out of the jungle. As he walked, Daniel decided to talk to the only other person who could understand his dilemma.

"When Cora took your heart, did you have any leftover feelings for Ana?"

"Nope. Not a thing. Why?"

"Well its just..." He paused and stopped walking. He lowered his voice and stepped closer to Will.

"I ripped my heart out and I didn't feel a thing for a while-"

"You did what?!"

He waved his hand to silence the younger man.

"Listen, I didn't feel anything but for some reason when they came here, the numbness slowly faded away."

"How is that possible?"

"I have no clue. I'll have to ask Cora when we meet back up with her."

"Where exactly is your heart?"

"In a safe place."

The group came into an open field of grass and took in the view. Snow grabbed David's hands and pulled him down the hill and into a bed of flowers.

"I still don't understand why Cora's kingdom is so cold." Anastasia commented with a shiver. She wrapped her arms around herself and Will put a blanket on her. She smiled thankfully at him and put her hand on his cheek. It was astonishing how quickly the two had realized how much they missed each other and made up. Jack rested her head on James's shoulder and the two walked over to his brother. Despite the peaceful walk, James sprung into action and started wrestling his sibling who put up a fight but was no match.

The meadow's grass came just below their knees and stretched out a great distance. A few oak trees were scattered around and a huge rock formation sat to their right. The waterfall they heard the night before could be seen father along in the area.

"This place is beautiful."

"That's why it's called Wonderland, when this world was first discovered, the explorers were so astounded by it's beauty and wonders they just had to name it so constructively."

"Been taking history lessons?"

"For the same reason you did. She expects me to run a kingdom."

"She chose you to succeed her?" She sounded a bit offended but much more surprised.

"I was just as shocked when she told me."

"Great, so two princes, a queen, and a knave as well as a giant slayer join forces with another queen, a princess, a thief, a hatter, and a shepherd; not to forget our valet friend and horses back home. This just keeps getting better and better." Jefferson said with a slap of his knee.

"And the dark one." Robin added.

Will and Daniel exchanged looks then glanced back at the others. Regina saw their confused faces and chose to explain.

"The dark one is also someone we need, he supplies us with goods and knowledge. My father is also helping out but he wasn't there when we went through to portal to here."

"You made Henry your valet?"

"Well he offered -kinda."

"Regina!... just-... nevermind." He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He knew Regina knew Henry would do anything for her but he never thought she'd exploit that. Then again, she's been doing an awful lot of things no one expected from her.

"So, how exactly do you guys know each other?" Robin inquired quietly and looked between the two. Everyone else just froze and waited for their reply.

"He was my stable boy." She answered coolly.

"But now he's a prince?"

"My mother **really **took a liking to him."

"So he's like your brother now?"

Daniel's face instantly became serious and Regina grinned at it.

"Not exactly."

He nodded in understanding and took her hand, obviously missing the glare he got from Daniel.

"How 'bout we go check out that waterfall?"


End file.
